(Image: Yui Mok/PA Wire)
A YORK care home manager has called for clearer communication and better support for families navigating the care system to facilitate better public understanding around how care home funding works.
Faizal Mohamudbuccus**,** a director at Broadway Lodge Care Home, has spoken to The Press about the difficulties that he has noticed in the adult social and elderly chair amid national calls for changes within the sector.
Speaking earlier at the end of last month, Prime Minister Andy Burnham said adult social care must be reformed with “urgency” - adding that “difficult, difficult decisions” could be needed on tax but insisted fixing the current problems in social care in England could save the NHS billions of pounds a year.
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These included bringing forward the independent Casey Commission into social care, working with other political parties to develop consensus, and looking at social care workforce reform, including a fair pay agreement for staff.
Faizal said that, from his experience, many of the issues stem from communication as most families are unclear about the financial system and the role of local authorities when a loved one enters care.
He said: "The main thing is that if you’re coming into a care home, most people don’t know the processes. 99 per cent of the people that come here have not got an idea or clue about the system.
"When someone comes into a care home, it's a life-changing event, and the chances are this would probably be their last place of living. You’ve got all of those emotions before you even think about the money side of things."
He explained that families are often focused on the emotional stress of a loved one being in hospital and the realisation that they may not be able to return home, rather than the implications of long-term care and the next steps.
Faizal said: "It’s a life changing event having someone enter care and families will need to analyse all that. You’ve got all of those emotions coming out before you even think about the money side of things.
“My job is that when someone new comes in, I will sit down with them. We'll discuss the care needs, how the care home could help that individual and what we do.
“We'll tell them about how the finance works in terms of the threshold that they get from the council and what they need to do. This means that they've got a clearer picture, and it makes it easy for them.”
He added that he feels much of the confusion could be avoided if hospital social workers provided clearer information at the point of discharge, especially when it is decided that a care home placement is in the person’s best interest.
He said: "I think at the time of discharge, I think there needs to be more information provided, and I think social work needs to be privy to more information to provide to the families.
“There’s such a big issue with people not knowing what will happen – we’ve had the wife of a resident ask us before if she was going to have to move out of her home to keep him living here. Absolutely not, but she just didn’t know that.”
Faizal also highlighted concerns about the communication and organisation between care homes and local authorities – adding that it is often ‘lacking’.
He said: "There needs to be better organisation, better planning. Funding will always be a massive issue, but as much as funding is really important, we need to have better organisation, better planning and more seamless process as well."
“I think the communication is really lacking. Having felt this first-hand for experiences it's not there, and it makes it more difficult as a care provider.
"We've got to deliver for these individuals, and it is down to us where you look after them - 24 hours a day. We need to work together with stakeholders to support everyone involved."