“We are already seeing Lord Darzi’s vision to put quality at the heart of care becoming a reality across the country, but we can go further. By making NHS services truly people-centred and ensuring that patients have access to high quality, integrated and efficient community services, the NHS could save up to £2.7 billion a year – meaning a [...]

Councils will struggle to cope with the financial challenge posed by England’s ageing population and could miss opportunities to innovate and save, according to a report from the Audit Commission called ‘Under Pressure’. The report said that most councils don’t know enough about the costs of their ageing population and they could do more to [...]

A row has erupted between the three main political parties before a health summit tomorrow aimed at securing an agreement on funding old people’s care. Wrangling broke out after a Conservative health spokesman admitted the Tories needed more money to keep the elderly at home and would offer people a range of insurance schemes to [...]

On the third leg of his tour highlighting good practice in care and support, Care Services Minister Phil Hope travelled to Yorkshire to visit a telecare project that is helping people to live safely in their own homes. Greenfield Court in Harrogate is a complex of ten homes, called “wise homes”, for older people. The [...]

In pursuit of a gripping headline, Brown has scuppered a fair, sensible and long-term plan for care of the elderly Here was such a sound and solid piece of policymaking, rare long-term thinking about a wicked issue you wouldn’t expect just before an election. There might be few votes in it, with a political risk [...]

What are LINks? They’re Local Involvement Networks – individuals and community groups, such as faith groups and residents’ associations, which work together to improve health and social care services. There are 150 around England, and aim to give people a strong voice in the delivery of health services – to identify their needs and demands, [...]

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) has helped launch a new pilot scheme to enable asset rich but cash poor older people pay for additional support at home, which could help to make their lives easier and allow them to stay in their own homes for longer, rather than move into a care home. The JRF is [...]

You will recall the Budget 2009 announced £75 million of funding for the Care First Careers initiative, which has the ambition to help create up 50,000 job opportunities for young people in the adult social care sector. Social care employers will receive a £1000 subsidy for every eligible unemployed person they take on. Following a pilot programme, [...]

Home care, nursing home and care home experts discuss compliance with the Care Quality Commission’s new guidance Experts decode what the Care Quality Commission’s 275-page document on meeting new standards means for residential and domiciliary care providers and adult placements. Since 2008 registered providers have received a quality rating (zero to three stars), with poorer performers [...]

Growing rapidly seems to be on the cards this year.  What a great start to 2010 so far! 247 Nursing is thriving, 247 Homecare is experiencing an explosion of demand from all areas of the sector and to top it off due to increased demand, we have launched our Permanent Pecruitment Division  247 Search & [...]