Choosing care one of life’s most stressful experiences

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has claimed that choosing adult social care in England is one of the biggest sources of stress compared to other key life events.

The health inspectorate’s survey of 1,000 people revealed that 70 per cent of adults who were responsible for choosing care in a care home or at home – either for themselves or a loved one – over the last three years have found it more stressful than choosing their child’s nursery or school, or a venue for their wedding or civil partnership.

Furthermore, 52 per cent of people surveyed had cited choosing a care home and 31 per cent had cited choosing care at home in their top three most stressful life decisions.

When analysing what had the greatest influence on people’s choice of care home, 72 per cent of respondents stated that seeing the care home for themselves was the most important influencer in helping them make their decision, while 44 per cent stated that understanding the quality of care based on its CQC rating and its latest inspection report influenced their decision the most.

Andrea Sutcliffe, CQC’s Chief Inspector of Adult Social Care said: “Choosing care can be a real worry for people, their families and carers, wondering who or where to turn to – but CQC can help. The public needs to know about the quality of care services available and they also need to be reassured that if there are any problems, these are being identified and tackled.

“That is why we publish regular inspection reports with quality ratings on more than 20,000 individual care services registered with CQC. This means that people have access to clear, independent and trusted information to help them make the right decisions for them or their loved one. People can be confident that we find most care services in England are providing good, safe care. For those that need to do better, or are not getting any better, we take appropriate action to ensure providers either improve or stop providing care altogether.”

Linda Thomas, vice chair of the Local Government Association’s Community Wellbeing Board, said: “Choosing care for a loved one is a major and often stressful decision - especially when they have to be made quickly – as it has health and wellbeing implications for the person who needs caring for. Thousands of older and disabled people deserve to be given a decent choice of care homes providing quality care, but the sad reality is that the underfunding of adult social care is threatening the quality of care on offer and its availability. This means that an increasing number of providers are either pulling out of public contracts or going out of business.

“Government needs to address immediate funding pressures on the sector as part of a wider annual £2.3 billion shortfall that adult social care will face by 2020. The long-awaited reforms promised following this summer’s Green Paper, need to help raise awareness of social care and support and help people to plan for their or their loved ones’ future care needs. That in turn will help people make the right choices for themselves and loved ones to ensure they receive high-quality care at the right time and in the right place for them. This survey helps to boost the profile of adult social care and the public’s knowledge of it as the sector continues to urge for a sustainable funding solution to be found.”