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Personal Care at Home Bill

The Bill aims to introduce reablement or intensive support for people who need home care for the first time, which might be following a period of ill health or a stay in hospital. We know that the Department of Health will issue separate guidance to cover what a reablement package can include. The consultation suggests that this might be physiotherapy, occupational therapy or the installation of telecare or adaptations to the home. People with dementia are significant users of both health and social care. My amendment would encourage NHS and local authorities to have joint responsibility for delivering a health and social care package that could maximise the ability of a person to live independently after, for example, a stay in hospital. I am speaking briefly, as much has already been said on these issues. Amendment 34 would ensure that the possibility of reablement is offered to people with dementia, who, as we know, are more likely to stay in hospital for longer than others who go in for the same procedures—the Alzheimer’s Society report Counting the Cost, which was produced last year, revealed that people with dementia stay in hospital far longer than those who go in for exactly the same procedure. The longer people with dementia stay in hospital, the worse the effect of the symptoms of dementia and the individual’s physical health. Discharge to a care home becomes more likely and anti-psychotic drugs, as we know, are more likely to be used to manage behavioural symptoms. I am concerned that people with dementia may be wrongly excluded from reablement because of the erroneous view that they might not benefit. The amendment would highlight the relevance of reablement whenever possible for people with dementia.