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Elderly may Choose Own Care
David Brindle, The Guardian
United Kingdom
March 22, 2005
Social workers will get formal protection from the risk of being sued or blamed if things go wrong, under government plans to give elderly and disabled people responsibility for arranging their care services.
A green paper published yesterday holds out the prospect of up to £14bn a year in social care spending in England being passed to eligible individuals, either in cash or in the form of paper budgets, to enable them to buy the services of their preference.
The consultation document states, however, that "this will require a mechanism to 'protect' care assessors and care workers from blame when accidents occur".
It adds: "If risks are identified and a person using services understands and accepts them, then social workers must not be made scapegoats."
People may already ask to have the cash equivalent of services for which they are eligible, but the scheme has grown only slowly because of its complexity, and because of reluctance on the part of some councils.
There is a belief among these authorities and their staff that they could be liable if a person using such "direct payments" were to employ a care assistant who turned out to be an abuser or a thief.
Stephen Ladyman, minister for community at the Department of Health, said reassurance would be needed if attitudes were to become less risk averse. "So long as you make the individual aware of the risks, if they decide to take those risks then there will be no comeback on the social worker or the person who gives the money."
Mr Ladyman said the green paper was "the antithesis of the nanny state".
Groups representing elderly and disabled people and others with complex needs generally support the vision set out in the document. But Help the Aged and Age Concern said the strategy would work only if the government reversed the trend to withdraw funding for low-level support, such as home helps, in favour of intensive care services for people with the greatest needs.
Gordon Lishman, director general of Age Concern, said it was worrying that under the proposals an older person could hire a care worker who was completely unchecked.
Local authority and social care leaders welcomed the green paper's plans for social workers, who would in future act less as gatekeepers to services and more as "navigators", guiding people through the maze of the care system.
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