According to a study by the Alzheimer’s Society, tens of thousands of people with dementia are avoidably admitted to A&E each year because of infections, falls and dehydration.
Using FoI requests to NHS trusts the charity also found that there has been a 27% increase over four years in avoidable illnesses and injuries for those living with dementia. Instead of the promised long-term solutions for social care in the UK, things seem to be getting more difficult.
These are worrying statistics that reflect just how much strain the social care system is under. Despite a lot of highly dedicated people working extremely hard the system is still failing many vulnerable people. This, in turn, puts more pressure on NHS services that are under strain because of Covid-19.
It’s hardly news that the most effective and cost-effective way to meet the needs of people with dementia is through the social care system. But somehow the policy dots are not being joined up. The name of the game for the foreseeable future is trying to make a flawed and underfunded system work as effectively as we can.
Families and Carers Feel the Strain
The other place where pressure is felt is with families and carers. Many family carers felt themselves to be at breaking point. 95% said it affected their physical or mental health, 69% reported feeling constantly exhausted, 64% felt anxious and 49% depressed.
There’s no doubt that the crisis has been made worse by lockdowns and enforced social isolation. And there are further factors queuing up to make the situation even more challenging. These include long covid and an increase in demand for dementia care owing to our ageing population.
We may not be in a position to fix the entire social care system, but it surely makes sense to deal with the parts that can be made to work better. One of these areas is brokerage – which is also highly pivotal.
Using cloud technology, social care brokerage can be made highly streamlined and more agile. Being able to place and reallocate care packages more quickly and efficiently resolves a key part of the process. It helps more people get the care they need so that their condition doesn’t reach the stage where A&E has to step in.
eBrokerage by UDMS is a unique, secure cloud-based brokerage system. It saves time and stress and it’s usually self-funding. It’s also easy to procure through the G-Cloud 12 framework, via Ulysses eBrokerage Cloud Software.