Disability charity highlights Surrey’s failures on social care
Figures released by the respected Leonard Cheshire charity have revealed that Surrey County Council has turned down thousands of requests for social care in the last year.
In 2015/16, the county council turned down 78% of requests for social care which means that out of 35,565 requests, only 7,995 were successful. Leonard Cheshire also shone a light on the declining number of people that Surrey has provided adult social care to in recent years. In 2009, Surrey County Council provided 31,095 people with social care but by 2014 it had reduced to 29, 650 - a fall of 5%.
These figures follow a joint statement released by The King's Fund, Nuffield Trust and the Health Foundation which calls for the government's Autumn Statement to address the funding crisis in adult social care. They point out the social care system is facing a £1.9 billion gap in its funding next year and that the government should urgently address this by providing more resources to councils.
Cllr Fiona White, Liberal Democrat spokesperson for Social Care, said:
"These figures are hugely worrying as we know for a fact that demand for care services has been rising steeply for years. It appears that the Conservative-administration at County Hall likes to give the impression that it is helping more and more people each year, but these figures show that not to be true. The failure to provide proper social care also means that people have to stay in hospital even though they are well enough to go home because the right care is not available. In turn that means delays in hospital treatment for others because of a lack of beds.
"I welcome the statement from The King's Fund and others calling for a better settlement for social care from the Autumn Statement. This government must listen, or the crisis in adult social care, not just in Surrey but all across the country, will continue".
ENDS
Further information on Leonard Cheshire's survey can be found here:
https://socialcare.leonardcheshire.org/ and on their wider campaign here:
https://www.leonardcheshire.org/get-involved/campaigns/social-care
The joint statement from The King's Fund, Nuffield Trust and the Health Foundation can be found here: