Cornwall: Home care issues for people in rural areas
I feel for the staff who manage the commissioning at Cornwall Council and also for the carers forced into this dysfunctional situation. It is the product of a major system failure in relation to national care policy. This story is true to a greater or lesser degree in many rural authorities. It tells us:
Some people living in rural areas are being left without home care packages because providers say they can’t recruit enough staff or afford high mileage costs.
More than 80 eligible people in Cornwall currently have no council-funded care, Cornwall Council says.
The authority says it cannot afford to pay more to providers.
Phil Hartley, owner of Hartley Home Care, provides services in Cornwall and Devon, where he says the council pays more for remote carers.
“Devon recognise the cost implications of providing rural care and they now pay a differential rate which is significant – a difference of nearly £4 an hour,” he said.
“Whereas in Cornwall there is no differential rate.”
Cornwall Council said it does not have “the scale of urban conurbations that Devon has so our contract price reflects the rural nature of Cornwall”.
The council added that it works with homecare companies to provide more than 2,800 care packages across Cornwall, and pays the Foundation Living Wage for staff, covering travel times and training.
The government says it’s giving councils more than £1 billion of ringfenced money for social care next year.