Articles

Research Suggests Elderly Care Visit is Costlier than Care Home Accommodation

17/06/2014

A couple of hours of elderly care visit can cost taxpayers more money than would have been spent in 24 hours at a care home, a new research suggests.

The research was conducted by Four Seasons Health Care, an independent health and social services provider with about 400 locations across the UK.

Four Seasons Health Care says it is common practice for local authorities to provide carers who visit elderly people staying in their own homes because it is thought to be an effective cost-saving measure. The care home provider, however, claims that care visit is not the best method of care for many elderly and there are hidden costs to it that do not benefit the taxpaying public.

The result of their study shows that care provided at the elderly’s home for three hours is equivalent to the cost of an all-day stay in a care home. If the elderly requires complicated care service for one-two hours, the cost to the taxpayer would even be higher.

Four Seasons based their calculations on average rates of nursing care of an independent care home of circa £583 and average rates of independent sector domiciliary care of circa £14.90/hour. 

UK’s professional association of home care providers, United Kingdom Homecare Association Ltd (UKHCA), disagrees with the findings of Four Seasons. The UKHCA commeneted what matters most is not the cost but the ability to provide the elderly choice on where they want to live and be cared for. Policy Director of UKHCA, Colin Angel, says: “Around nine in ten people would prefer to be cared for in their own homes if the need arose, with around just eight per cent expressing a preference for residential care.”