Regular News - 18 March 2024
Written by Lucy Nichol - Edited by CACHE Alumni
Sector news update
Hello and welcome to our latest fortnightly news update. This week we’ve a few responses to the latest King’s Fund report that shows adult social care requests are currently at a record high. We’ve also got more on tech – with examples of both potential benefits and risks, and a Channel 4 report on two fathers who are ‘taking on’ the social care system.
General social care news
A new report from the King’s Fund has found that a record 2 million adults asked for social care support last year and that thousands are being left to struggle without it.
⇨ Read more here
The King’s Fund findings are also reported on by Disability Rights UK, who say that it highlights a lack of government action on social care.
⇨ Read the full story here
And there’s also a response to the King’s Fund report from the Healthwatch CEO…
⇨ Read the full response here
A Community Care poll has found that most social workers are expecting ‘significant cuts’ to social care funding in their area during 2024-2025.
⇨ Read the full article here
New research from the CQC and Healthwatch shows that people are more likely to feedback on commercial services and products than their experience of health and social care.
⇨ Read the full story here
A ‘shocking’ new social care report finds that blind and visually impaired people in England are at risk from delays in vital care that they have a legal right to.
⇨ Read more here
According to the FT, the industry regulator has closed over 800 for-profit care facilities since 2011, raising concern over quality of provision.
⇨ Read the full story here
Tech and Data
Scientists believe empathetic robots could help take pressure off the NHS according to this report from STV.
⇨ Read more here
The Observer reports on the risks associated with an ‘overuse’ of unregulated AI chat bots in social care. This follows a pilot study by academics at the University of Oxford who found that some care providers had been using generative AI chat bots to create care plans for people.
⇨ Read more here
Children’s care
Read about the experiences of a care leaver in response to a recent roundtable event hosted by Children’s Commissioner Rachel de Souza.
⇨ Read the full article here
And finally….
A new Channel 4 programme reports on two fathers from the South West of England taking on a ‘near crumbling’ UK social care system in a bid to protect respite care.
⇨ View the programme here
We’ll be back in touch in a fortnight with more updates, news and views.
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