Social care reform

Responding to the publication of the ‘Sustainable Social Services for Wales - A Framework for Action' by the Welsh Assembly Government, Age Cymru's Director of Influencing and Programme Development, Victoria Lloyd says:

"We strongly welcome this Paper and its emphasis on greater collaboration and integration of services and a stronger national approach across Wales.

"In particular, we support the plans to introduce portable assessments to avoid unnecessary re-assessment in different regions and the establishment of a national contract for care homes to improve greater consistency of services.

"We are pleased to see the inclusion of frail older people as one of the three priority areas of work where the Assembly will expect much greater integration of delivery.

"The introduction of a requirement for re-ablement services for older people to be provided across Wales and to be led jointly by social services and the NHS is another welcomed development.

"It is positive to see a commitment that within the framework of reforms on the funding of care and support, the Welsh Assembly will work with stakeholders to introduce a national eligibility framework and a portable assessment of need for adult social care - this is long overdue.

"The Paper commits to the setting up of a National Safeguarding Board for adults and children on a permanent basis, which will offer stronger leadership on a national level on protecting vulnerable people.

"We welcome the commitment to introduce a more robust statutory framework for vulnerable adults in Wales and its call for new legislation to ensure cooperation between agencies and service providers and information sharing in adult abuse investigations.

"We believe these reforms if implemented correctly have the potential to improve the current social care system and reduce the wide variations in current services across Wales.

"Age Cymru looks forward to the review of the second phase of the Strategy for Older People and the launch of Phase 3."