New Care Act from next month; any insights any one?

Boldredrosie

Registered User
Mar 13, 2012
244
0
Does anybody on the site have any insights into how the new Care Act might affect people with dementia and their carers?

Putting aside issues of funding, does anyone know if the new act will improve things? In our case my mother who is now in the moderate/severe stage of dementia lives with me and my teenager. My presence in the house masks many of the issues that social services would have to address if she lived on her own and this has taken a heavy, heavy toll on me and my son. Every time I've tried to get them involved my mother has refused each and every suggestion social services has made and they just shrug their shoulders and say as she has capacity she's well within her rights. They blank me when I tell them I don't have the capacity to meet her needs and that we're at a tipping point where even if I was willing to care, her needs are shortly going to outstrip anything I could provide.

I'm wondering if under the new act social services will have to assess my mother's needs without taking into account the fact that I'm in the house and actually see how vulnerable she is. If owt was to happen to me, she'd be up the creek without a paddle.
 

nitram

Registered User
Apr 6, 2011
30,075
0
Bury
The financial changes do not come into force until April 2016.

Unless your mother is assessed as lacking capacity if she refuses help there is little that can be done about her refusals.

The Act puts a duty on the LA to consider the needs of a family carer and indeed the whole family.

The Act gives local authorities a responsibility to assess a
carer’s needs for support, where the carer appears to have
such needs. This replaces the existing law, which says that
the carer must be providing “a substantial amount of care
on a regular basis” in order to qualify for an assessment.
This will mean more carers are able to have an assessment,
comparable to the right of the people they care for.


https://www.gov.uk/government/uploa...ent_data/file/366089/Factsheet_8_-_Carers.pdf
 

Wildlife

Registered User
Jun 19, 2012
48
0
Sheffield
As I understand it, the Act is supposed to treat the needs of the Carer as having as much importance as those of the person they care for. It should (in theory) be easier for carers to get an assessment. That said, I'm not sure what happens if the cared-for person refuses an assessment, as the Carer's Assessment is suppose to follow that.
Sorry not to be of any real help:(
 

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