Published: 24/02/2024
Private elderly care
In Scotland, free personal and/or nursing care is available to all adults who have been assessed by their local authority as needing it.
Having been assessed as needing care, an individual will be given options relating to the way they would like their care package provided and administered. This is called Self Directed Support.
The 4 Self-Directed Support options
OPTION 1 involves a direct payment to the individual or a third party to coordinate and fund the individual’s support, either with a personal carer or with a local provider of their choice.
OPTION 2 enables the individual to direct the support made available by the local authority. The individual may select a provider of their choice and the latter will recover the cost of care from the local authority.
OPTION 3 requires for the Local Authority to arrange the support, either directly or via providers participating in those local authority’s Health and Social Care framework.
OPTION 4 is effectively a mix of any Options 1 to 3.
If you would like to know more about Self-Directed Support options for you, contact us here.
It is undeniable that publicly funded care delivered by or on behalf of local authorities is enabling a large majority of the adult population needing care in Scotland to continue to live independently in their own homes. It is arguably one of the key benefits deriving from the Scottish Government’s ‘Social Contract’ which differentiates Scotland from its English neighbour. Scottish Local Health and Social Care partnerships do an amazing job or coordinating free care delivery across the regions, with the support of independent local providers.
The downside to that is that demand is outstripping supply at an increasingly alarming rate. The growth in the number of people needing care is not being matched by a sufficient increase in the number of carers or service providers. Neither is real term funding keeping pace with the increasing cost of employing carers or running services.
The net result is that individuals often wait for long periods of time before being offered a care package. In addition, visit durations are often short and focused purely on the functional aspects of homecare delivery. Whilst emphasis is placed on the wellbeing of the persons being cared for, well trained and skilled Carers often have to rush from visit of visit, simply to take care of people’s most basic needs with limited time to dispense enough meaningful emotional support.
Funding your own care
There are essentially 2 main avenues open to individuals looking to explore private homecare for the elderly.
Full self-funding:
The individual or their family take complete control over all aspects of care including financing. This avenue is often chosen by those service users who may have been assessed as not having significant enough personal care needs for the local authority to allocate a care package.
The Client simply purchases the support they wish for. This may mean employing their own carer(s). In most cases, however, they may arrange visiting care delivered by a private homecare provider. The client is able to determine exactly how much time is allowed for visits, when those visits take place and what happens during those visits. This may involve time dedicated to companionship and social activities which are generally not funded by local authorities: a trip to the shops, to a local café or to the cinema; attendance of local events; some baking or even a game of scrabble in the house to keep the brain alert.
The self-funding route may also be selected as an interim solution by people who have been waiting for a personal care package from a local authority and have the means to finance alternative provision to enable earlier delivery.
Partial self-funding
We don’t advocate ‘top-up’ funding for care packages allocated by a local authority but a Client may wish to build additional time around existing visits or add individual visits, to enhance the wellbeing of the individual who is being cared for.
Loneliness affects a massive proportion of the elderly population when families move away, life partners are lost and a lack of mobility limits opportunities.
Adding 30 privately funded minutes to a 30-minute morning visit funded by the local authority could mean the Carer being able to dedicate enough time to chat about the day ahead over a cup of tea, make the Client an enhanced breakfast, take them for a short walk or even sing and laugh with them.
An additional 1-hour companionship visit could also be slotted in between funded personal care visits, to enable the service user to maintain a presence in their local community and enjoy human interaction, or to enjoy someone’s company in their own home. The programme is completely built around the client’s needs, wishes and preferences.
Benefits of private homecare
Enhanced wellbeing: a Client’s emotional wellbeing needs are more likely to be met and the damaging impact of loneliness is alleviated.
Reduced pressure on families: the Client’s family are able to rely on the care provider to limit pressure on their own time or compensate for their lack of expertise, for example of dealing with people living with dementia or autism.
Faster delivery: in some areas, local authorities may struggle for some time to allocate care packages because of funding terms which make them unsustainable for providers.
Complete control: the provider is directly accountable to the Client and/or their family and is completely focused on their needs.
Increased flexibility: visit frequency, duration and activities can be altered at will by the Client (subject to their safety and wellbeing).
What to look for when arranging private care
Caution must be exercised when looking to hire a care provider for yourself or a loved one. There are 4 key factors to be considered:
- Care inspectorate: is the provider registered with the care regulatory body; have any complaints been upheld against them; what was the outcome of their most recent regulatory inspections?
- Scottish Social Services Council: are the service manager and carers registered with the SSSC?
- Is the Care Provider able to evidence up-to-date membership of the Protection of the Vulnerable Groups scheme (PVG).
- What is the care provider’s safe recruitment policy?
For any additional information relating to any aspects of private elderly care, contact us here.