Report finds that 3 million hours of home care has been lost due to council cuts

The report titled, Behind the Headlines – the battle to get care at home, found that the average spend per adult on social care had fallen by 13 per cent, from £439 to £379 between 2009/10 and 2016/17. During the same time period, the charity state that around 400,000 fewer older people were able to receive care, as councils tightened the eligibility criteria.

Sally Copley, Director of Policy Campaigns and Partnerships, at Alzheimer’s Society said:

'This new report adds to a growing body of evidence that reveals the stark cost of dementia. We know that 60 percent of those receiving care at homes have dementia, yet time and time again people with the condition are being denied their right to the care and support they urgently need.

'Our own report, Dementia – the true cost: Fixing the care crisis, that we unveiled during last week’s Dementia Action Week highlighted the spiralling costs of care that often falls to families. Our research found that a 70% increase in five years for emergency admissions could have been avoided had people with dementia been able to access appropriate support in the community.

'From the man hospitalised by a pressure sore from sitting in a chair for 24 hours, to the 82 year old lady admitted to hospital for a urinary tract infection because her support was stopped, so she was unable to shower – people with dementia continue to be hit hardest by the social care crisis.

'There are 850,000 people living with dementia and with this number set to rise to 1 million by 2021, the time for action to fix the social care crisis is now. It is imperative that the Government’s impending Green Paper on care reform reverses this unnecessary suffering and provides people with dementia the care they rightly deserve.'