Getting
Help to stay in your home and Community Care Assessments
Under
our healthcare governance in the UK, everyone has the right to ask social
services for a community care assessment. This assessment will determine
the type and level of your need for adaptations to your home to enable
you access care at home. An application for a community care assessment
can be made by an individual or a caregiver.
Since
April 2003 people have had the right to request a direct payment of money
instead of the community care service offered. This means that you
can ask for the money that the local authority would paid for equipment,
if you wish to purchase it from an alternative supplier to the council’s
supplier.
A qualified
professional will come and perform the assessment in your own home, assessing
both your personal needs and your accommodation.
Adaptations
can be made to your home to make it fully accessible to you if you have
mobility problems. This can include things like ramps, stair lifts,
widening doorways and lowering worktops and electrical sockets.
In
addition other equipment can be provided that can make your home safer
and more comfortable. This can include things like handrails, bath
rails and chairs, kettle-tippers, clamps to open jars and personal alarms
to alert services if you have a fall.
Ultimately,
most elderly people would prefer to remain in their own home, and the costs
to provide homecare, as opposed to residential care, are much less for
a local authority. As we have a hugely expanding senior generation,
it is going to become more important to try and adapt an old person’s home
to extend their ability to remain independent. The fact that the
burden of caring costs can then also be partly shared by family caregivers
and community homecare services will lighten the burden upon the public
senior care budget!
