Tuesday, 24 January 2012
In calling for the Government to rethink its structural reforms of the NHS in England, the cross party health committee has highlighted the need for urgency to move more care for older people into the community. As the cost of hospital care for the fast growing number of older people places additional pressure on over-stretched NHS resources, David McCullough, Chief Executive of WRVS said:
“Supporting older people to live independently and healthily in their own homes makes perfect sense all round. The NHS needs to find a more sustainable way of funding older people’s care and a very practical method is by increasing the support for older people within their own community. This would also help to address the £2 billion cost associated with older people being readmitted to hospital every year, which must be a priority in this financial climate. Every day our 40,000 WRVS volunteers work with people who can continue to live on their own because of the support they have received from WRVS in the community. Services like befriending schemes, community transport, lunch and social clubs play an enormously important and often under-valued role in helping older people remain physically and mentally well.
"WRVS, the UK’s largest charity working with older people, gave evidence to the Health Committee and had no hesitation in suggesting that substantial savings can be made to NHS budgets through support delivered via community organisations and volunteering charities. In evidence it also highlighted the fact that reducing the number of readmissions to hospital is not happening quickly enough around the country."
David McCullough
“We know there are plenty of occasions when care in hospital is the only way for someone to be treated, but we also hear of many older people who end up in hospital almost inevitably, because they are living extremely lonely lives with no real local support to prevent their health from deteriorating physically or mentally.”