Older People Clearly Not a Priority for Conservative Budget (Oxfordshire Liberal Democrats)

Older People Clearly Not a Priority for Conservative Budget

February 14, 2006 12:00 AM
By Cllr Janet Godden in Council, 14th February 2006

I'm pleased to second the Liberal Democrat amendments. As Cllr Roaf has said, at trifling additional increase to the Council Tax they put more money into badly neglected areas, such as pavement repairs and pupil support - both neglected in the Labour and Green budgets - and above all into services for older people where we propose an increase of £1m. I intend to concentrate my remarks on this area.

We have seen that this is not a priority for the Conservatives. They've funded 40 new care beds in West Oxfordshire, and then retreated from the field, leaving it littered with wounded services. The statements in the budget papers about the impact of unmet pressures in the older people's budget make grim reading.

This is what they tell us.

-- Decreased contributions to the pooled budget will decrease the number of nursing home placements that can be purchased and the availability of places when needed.

--Reducing inflation in contracts with private care homes could mean that some homes cease doing business with us and that clients have to move.

-- Reducing the already inadequate number of respite beds will increase demands on carers.

-- Reductions in care management will increase waiting lists for assessments and care packages.

-- Halting the day services programme will increase loneliness, decrease wellbeing and add to the demands on carers.

-- And all these added to further increases in charges for home support which will have a direct financial impact on some clients and their carers.

Older people want better than this, and the Liberal Democrats want it for them.

Two factors in particular have led to this state of affairs. In the first place, the decision not to allow year-on-year budget uplift for the rapidly growing numbers of over 85s was a manifest error. Liberal Democrats complained about it fiercely at the time, and the chicken is now coming home to roost. To spread the same amount of money across ever increasing numbers of people is plainly a cut in real terms; to claim that it is not is mere playing with words.

In the second place, the extra £1m is needed because of the imbalance in the Conservative proposals. Investing £1m in 40 extra care beds in West Oxfordshire is all very well, especially for those who happen to live in West Oxfordshire, but it is a luxury. Had the Council been able to afford 40 more beds when the Homes for Older People contract was first made we would have included them at the time. We certainly do not begrudge these beds as an extra, but we cannot agree that they should come first and put every other areas of spending under such pressure. The Conservative budget is all fur coat and no underclothes.

An additional million pounds will not meet all the pressures or eliminate the forecast deficit at March 07, but it will give the directorate more flexibility, and it is permanent. The Conservatives' Emergency Fund does not meet the case at all.

-- In the first place it has to be bid for bit by bit as emergencies arrive. How much more sensible to agree that it will be needed, put it in and make it permanent so that it can be planned with and used to maximum effect.

-- And with regard to the NHS, how much more sensible to fund our own services properly in the first place, so that we aren't making matters worse through delayed discharges, fewer respite beds, and inadequate home support. The Conservative budget postures on the bank with a life belt and risks throwing it too late.

Last week saw the launch of the Government White Paper on adult care. As expected, it envisages a strong leadership role for local government in the commissioning of primary health and social care. This is no time for the administration to be making its lack of interest in adult care quite so apparent.

The extra cost to a band-D CT payer of the proposed Liberal Democrat amendments is 12 pence per week. We know that the public wants better services, and that people in Oxfordshire of all ages are aware of the difficulties of obtaining adequate care for the elderly. It's hard to believe that this increase would be resented.

Please support these amendments.

Oxfordshire Liberal Democrats