Extra social care funding means better help at home for people in Cornwall – Dan Rogerson MP
Dan Rogerson – Liberal Democrat MP for North Cornwall – today welcomed an extra £1,796,168 for social care in Cornwall to help people leave hospital earlier and receive better care at home.
An extra £150m nationally was announced by the Coalition Government this week to be spent on shortening hospital stays across the country during the busy winter period.
The extra cash has come from savings made in the Department of Health’s budget and can be used to access various preventative services such as better home care support, crisis response teams and specialist equipment. The money is on top of the £648m already given to Primary Care Trusts this financial year to support social care services.
The announcement comes after Lib Dem Care Services Minister, Paul Burstow, joined Mr Rogerson in Lanivet last Tuesday to see how the use of assistive technologies such as telehealth are helping people in Cornwall stay at home for longer.
The use of telehealth and telecare allows people to monitor health conditions in the comfort of their own home, so that they only have to travel to a GP or hospital when it is necessary.
Commenting, North Cornwall MP Dan Rogerson said:
“At this time of year it is particularly important to do everything we can to ensure people are cared for at home in a safe and familiar environment, with their family and friends close by.
“The Coalition is already doing the right thing and providing an extra £7.2bn in social care funding over the next four years. This extra cash for Cornwall further shows how the Liberal Democrats recognise that we all prefer to be out of hospital, receiving care in our own home.
“The increasing use of telehealth and telecare technologies is also improving the quality of people’s lives here in Cornwall by reducing the amount of time they have to spend at, and travelling to and from, hospitals and doctors surgeries.”
Commenting further, Liberal Democrat Health Minister, Paul Burstow said:
“By reinvesting these savings in social care we can offer more help more support to older people leaving hospital.
“It is absolutely crucial that the NHS and local authorities work together to help people leave hospital when they are ready. The benefits are on all sides – patients get to go home with the support they and their families need, and hospital beds are freed up.
“This money will help cut the delays in getting the equipment and adaptations that people can need to enable them to live independently at home – saving them from an unnecessary stay in hospital or going into residential care.”
