Social care spending cuts 'risk isolating older adults'

Older adults across the UK are facing the prospect of reduced assistance as social services bosses admit they are looking to make cuts to face-to-face care.

A study by the King's Fund thinktank has discovered seven out of ten directors of social care are planning to reduce the number of visits made by carers. Some of these visits may be replaced by remote alarm and phone link services in an effort to cut costs, the Telegraph reports.

Over the last four years, local councils have seen the amount of government funding they receive drop by an average of 27 per cent. Because it takes up a third of budgets in most cases, social care is being hit the hardest by the cuts.

This data has been collected because the King's Fund decided to extend its annual NHS management survey to include social services directors.

Richard Humphries, who authored the report, said the reductions in spending risk isolating older adults.

"It just gets so much harder to commission an acceptable level of care that meets people's needs, especially for social interaction," he explained.

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