Attendance allowance could unlock power of information in social care

If the full potential of online information portals is to be realised, then the government needs to think about the attendance allowance system.

While social care funding reform appears to be stalling, elsewhere in social care policy, new and interesting developments are emerging off the back of the government's white paper.

One of the most exciting is the push toward online information portals for social care, and the development of e-marketplaces in which individuals and families can identify and buy services.

The government wants all local authorities to radically improve their online information and support services, and has promised £32.5m of start-up funding to help them do so.

However, one of the biggest challenges for this agenda will simply be achieving scale. To remain viable, online information portals will require traffic. And with their higher costs, e-marketplaces for care services will even more urgently need visitors and care users to adopt new ways of commissioning and paying for services.

The Department of Health's own figures suggest local authorities fund home care for 532,000 older people and 350,000 working age adults. If half of these individuals and their families were to be successfully nudged by councils into becoming regular users of online care portals, this will still be less than half a million people.

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Special educational needs trial extended

Trials to help children and young adults with special educational needs are being extended by another 18 months.

Edward Timpson, Children and Families Minister, today visited the Bromley and Bexley pathfinder, one of 20 areas where the reforms are being tested before they become law. This area is making good progress in testing the reforms.

Parents of young people aged between 12 months and 24 years in the two boroughs in south-east London have been testing the reforms. Their children have conditions as varied as autism, chronic medical conditions like lung disease and learning disabilities.

The reforms include a single assessment process and an integrated education, health and care plan. This brings together all the support they need in a single place. Parents also have the option of a personal budget, so that they can control their support.

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Mother of man with cerebral palsy sues hospital over son's DNR order

Elaine Winspear seeks to challenge doctor's 'unilateral' order not to resuscitate son Carl, who died at Sunderland Royal hospital.

The mother of a 28-year-old man with cerebral palsy is suing the hospital where he died, alleging its staff failed to consult her on a decision not to attempt resuscitation and did not administer his medication appropriately.

A coroner has raised concerns about the way Carl Winspear received medication in hospital last year, writing an official letter to the Department of Health (DoH) and City Hospitals Sunderland NHS foundation trust over drug procedures at Sunderland Royal hospital.

The legal action by Elaine Winspear comes as a separate case over the use of so-called "do not resuscitate" (DNR) orders begins at the high court in London on Monday. That case has been filed by the family of a woman who died in Addenbrooke's hospital, Cambridge, last year.

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Why the government needs to listen to people with learning disabilities

My name is Shairaz and I am a member of United Response's campaigns panel. We are a group of people with learning disabilities and some family members who want to speak out on issues that are important to us.

United Response asked us to tell them what we thought about the government's plans for social care. The government has put these plans in its white paper and draft care and support bill.

Our opinions have been turned into a report by United Response, published today, called Our future. In the report we tell people about what it is like to have a disability and what we think the government should be doing to make things better for us.

Many of us (two-thirds) had not heard about the changes that the government was going to make to social care, before we took part in the report. Those of us who did know about the changes were worried about our benefits as we knew that funding was being cut.

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Premature deaths of people with learning disabilities blamed on poor hospital care

People with learning disabilities have a high chance of dying prematurely, interim figures from a major government survey suggest - and critics claim hospitals are unable to respond to learning disabled patients' needs.

In January 2009 Tina Papalabropoulos became ill. The 23-year-old, who had profound learning disabilities, had developed aspiration pneumonia - which meant food had got into her lungs.

Despite her mother Christine's repeated requests, it took several days before she was admitted to hospital.

Tina had received good care from Basildon Hospital while she was growing up, but when she had to transfer to the hospital's adult section, her mother was worried about the treatment she might get.

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