“Free Bus Pass Deception”

Posted on April 10, 2011 by john graham

In July last year, at the time when the Coalition Government was contemplating lots of different ideas on how to approach the cuts, one of the ideas they floated was to remove free bus passes from pensioners.  At the time I commented on this in my blog under the title of “Bus Pass Bust Up” dated 16 July 2010.  The Government’s toe-in-the-water was met with a hail of protest and ultimately the Prime Minister denied there was any intention to remove free bus passes in the forthcoming cuts.

Now we can see the full sincerity of the politician’s words.  Sure enough in one hand they kept bus passes for older people, whilst in the other hand they made savage cuts to Local Authorities.  Now we are seeing the full impact of these cuts as subsidies to bus companies are reduced.  All over the country the frequencies of bus services and the number of bus routes are being cut.  There have been substantial protests in Plymouth and Stoke on Trent recently but of course now it’s the local politicians that are getting the blame rather than Central Government.

The elderly are the group that suffer most with these cuts since many of them no longer have cars but they still have to attend hospital appointments, doctor appointments and visit the shops, just like everyone else. 

In Plymouth five services are being cut altogether and a further six are being reduced whilst the bus company is considering fare increases.  At the same time Plymouth Citybus reported a record profit of £36.9m in the final half of 2010.

In Stoke on Trent, the City Council are proposing to cut subsidies to 44 services which will save £313k out of a total of £35.6m of cuts

 

Posted in ELDERLY UK POLICY | Tagged | 3 Comments

“SOUTHERN CROSS POKER GAME – Residential Care Dilemma” 3

Posted on April 5, 2011 by john graham

The history of residential care has had its highs and lows over the years (see “Residential Care Dilemma dated 12 October 2010).  At times there has been rapid growth and high profits, but always on shaky foundations (see “Houses Built on Sand” dated 16 January 2011).  Its future now is at a crossroads – a Southern crossroads.  The road taken may well determine the future role of residential care, and impact on the lives of hundreds of thousands of older people.

Somewhere in a Government Department or a Banker’s office in the City of London, a high stakes poker game is being played behind closed doors.  Each player is holding on to their cards and trying to protect their stake in the game, by not declaring their hand too soon.  Poker is a game of bluff where the key questions are:-

Who has the strongest hand?

Who has the most money to play with?

Who will back down first?

Who has the strongest nerve?

Spectators are superfluous in a poker game, they don’t have any cards to play.

YOU CAN BARELY BELIEVE THAT WE ARE TALKING ABOUT GAMBLING WITH THE LIVES OF OVER    30,000   SOUTHERN CROSS ELDERLY RESIDENTS

In what could be Southern Cross’s final game, let’s have a look at:-

A)  Who are the key players ?

A1  Southern Cross Management – an ever-changing group of directors, where their predecessors have bailed out with golden goodbyes, leaving the latest group with few cards to play.  (The get rich quick shareholders have long since lost their shirts and are now only in the audience watching the game).

A2  Bankers and venture capitalists – heavily disguised with the dark glasses of unknown companies.  Supported by an army of accountants and lawyers who are likely to be the only guaranteed winners in this game.

A3  The Care Quality Commission – who would like to be in control of the game but are very inexperienced at this level of poker.  Poker is a dangerous game for novices.

A4  The Government – whose hand will be played by the Department of Health and Social Care.  So far they have kept their cards under the table.

B)  What are the first moves?

B1  The new Southern Cross Management Team – have already played their first cards by delaying and rescheduling the rent owed to their landlords.  Thereby saving themselves £10m per year.  The landlords won’t like this, but it is small change in a high stakes game, so they probably won’t do anything about it.

B2  The Landlords (bankers and venture capitalists in disguise remember) – have up until now been sitting on their hands.  As long as they continue to receive some rent, they are most likely to hang on and stay in the game.  They could trade lower rent for shares in the company but since Southern Cross is almost worthless, this would hardly be a strong play to make.

B3  The Care Quality Commission – have already upped the stakes by closing admissions to 17 homes which increases the tension and sends a signal to the other players that they are in the game.

B4  The Government – is already in discussion with the key players including some competitors (BUPA, Four Seasons, Audley, Barchester), who would like to be picking on the bones of Southern Cross.  The Government is nonetheless a very reluctant player, one who has created the game; allowed the rules to be set by the financial market; constrained social service fee levels and now does not want to play.  They will however have to pick up the pieces if the game collapses – the pieces of course being the residents.

C  So what is the final hand?

C1  Southern Cross Management – could put themselves into voluntary liquidation and let administrators default on the existing management agreements, thereby forcing the landlords to make more economic arrangements with other operators.  I doubt the new executive team will want to do that, otherwise they are out of a job.

C2   The Landlords (bankers can be, and venture capitalists definitely are – ruthless) – they could do the same thing by terminating the management agreements on the grounds that the rental payments have not been honoured.  Although there is little honour in any of this story.

C3  The Care Quality Commission – whilst continuing tightening the screw on new admissions, might also want to contemplate the logic of a policy that protects new residents from moving in to new substandard homes, but leaves the existing residents vulnerable to gambling operators, bankers and venture capitalists.  Shouldn’t the regulations outlaw gambling with residents’ lives?

C4   The Government – with the guidance of the Department of Health, they are the only organisation with enough resources to outbid all the other players.  If they play their cards right they hold all the aces in the pack:-

Ace of Spades – concern about premature deaths of residents worrying about having to move, in the event of sudden home closures (remember Napsbury in 1997).

Ace of Clubs – the threat of the Care Quality Commission having to stop all future admissions to Southern Cross homes because they fail the financial viability test.

Ace of Diamonds – the potential to offer higher fees for rehabilitation services by moving older people from NHS wards.

Ace of Hearts – the White Knight of politicians riding to the rescue of vulnerable older people and saving them from a fate worse than death.

With these cards carefully played by David Behan, the Director of Adult and Social Care at the Department of Health, the Government could fill, not only Southern Cross’s empty beds, but also many other residential care places.  This has the potential to turnaround the financial viability of the whole residential care corporate sector whilst at the same time ensuring that NHS patients are looked after in better accommodation and are still supported by NHS transferred specialist staff.   Money would be saved in NHS budgets and spent more economically by new GP Commissioners on a transformed, slow stream rehabilitation service.  This solution is a potential win-win option for residents, operators, bankers/venture capitalists, the Care Quality Commission and politicians.

 

Posted in Residential Care | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

“Richmond Villages Step Forward”

Posted on April 3, 2011 by john graham

Private sector retirement villages are beginning to take off in the UK, although the rate of expansion has been slowed by the downturn in the housing market.  Fundamentally, the potential for growth in the market is very strong.  I think market leaders will emerge from the companies who are the most innovative and flexible in their service offer.  They also have to be prepared to embrace the issue of providing care and support.

Up until recently, most private sector retirement housing companies have been very tentative about moving beyond providing anything more than the basic hotel services -meals, laundry and housekeeping.  Provision of care is much more highly regulated and operationally more demanding to manage, so it is an area housing developers have been reluctant to be drawn into.  There are encouraging signs that this is changing.

Richmond Villages is one of the leading providers with several villages in their portfolio already.  I will find out and write more about them in future blogs.  What caught my eye recently was “Richmond Retreats”.  Although it sounds like a stay in a monastery, it is actually an interesting innovation in retirement housing.  The basic offer is a 3 or 7 night break with full board, and care support as an extra add-on service.

In Social Services and NHS parlance, these would be called respite breaks, Richmond uses the much more positive language of the hotel and leisure industry.  The emphasis is on the luxury accommodation, the health spa and the extensive range of activities available.  I suspect there may be some exaggerated spin on the range of activities available but would love to be proven wrong.  The focus on care is rather under-sold as I guess they want to stop short of providing a rehabilitation service, although it would be an easy next step with the facilities they have.

Priced at nearly £2000 per week plus care which could easily be another £1000 per week. This is not a cheap option, but it is a good way of evaluating the facility if you’re considering moving in permanently at some time in the future.

This initiative may well have been borne out of the need to fill their accommodation in a difficult housing market.  It is nonetheless an interesting innovation and a more positive and comprehensive view of the direction housing with care needs to move.

 

Posted in RETIREMENT HOUSING | 2 Comments

” The £140 Pension Illusion” 3

Posted on April 1, 2011 by john graham

Is this a cruel April 1st joke ?   I first started writing about this subject back in October last year when the pensions minister Steve Webb anounced a headline grabbing huge 40%rise in the state pension.      More recently on the 2nd March I blogged again on the topic when the Secretary of State –  Ian Duncan Smith – championed the radical change he was hoping to make by simplyfying and increasing the state pension.

As always the devil is in the detail —- it does not apply to existing pensioners —- and it does not come into effect until 2016.  Conveniently after the next election, and we all know that politicians promises are always kept after elections !

Today  the headlines have been grabbed yet again.  This time the figure has gone up to £155 per week  —  even before anyone has received it.    Of course at the same time the state pension age is also set to increase.

So with a careful bit of clever synchronising the Politicians will be able to announce new pension rises every year, without ever needing to give anyone any extra money.   In 2047 if I live long enough, I will be 100 years old and by then the state pension will probably have reached well over £1,000 a week.   The problem will be that  the qualyifing age will no doubt be 101 😦

GOOD NEWS TO ANNOUNCE ON       APRIL 1st

Posted in Pensions | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Breakfast Exercise “5”

Posted on March 27, 2011 by john graham

My breakfast struggle with packaging and small print continues! This time, in the unlikely form of a small bottle of lemon juice. Surely that can’t defeat me? All I want is a warm honey and lemon drink to soothe my sore throat. It’s a brand new bottle of Jif Lemon Juice and like everything these days the top has been hermetically sealed with heat shrunk plastic that will ensure the contents will last for a thousand years.  Not even a safe cracker could get the top off !

Not to be beaten and armed with my newly acquired trusty friend, the magnifying glass, I start to read the small print as carefully as if I was about to defuse a bomb.

Around the top it says “twist off the top in direction of arrows and pull back ring tab”. Just two small problems – 1) I can’t see the yellow arrows on the yellow top and 2) where on earth is the ring tab? When I was younger, I could take tops off beer bottles with my teeth, but the few I have left are too precious to risk on a mere bottle of lemon juice. Undaunted, I’m off to find the tool box – where the b****y  **ll are the pliers! Now nothing will stop me!!! In their vice-like grip, the top screws off in no time at all (always forgetting the 10 minutes it took me to find the pliers).

Oh! And there is the ring tab carefully hidden inside the top, like a present inside a Christmas cracker. What a pity “Lemon Jif” didn’t include a “bang” inside the bottle as well, then they could have frightened me as well as irritating me. Puts a whole new meaning into “be there in a jiffy”.

Now they have got my attention and I have my I-spy glass, I decide to take a look at the small print on this helpful little bottle. A note written sideways on the label says ungrammatically

“FOR BEST BEFORE END SEE NECK”

On the neck it says “DECEMBER 2011” which is probably how long it could take some people to open the bottle!

 

Posted in GRUMBLES | Tagged , | 4 Comments

“Silence is Golden” 2

Posted on March 25, 2011 by john graham

In April last year I wrote a blog about the invasion of noise in our lives entitled “Silence is golden”.   It was an early morning grumble, but perhaps not surprising given I was in central London at the time.

Now one year, on  I find myself in the heart of the country making the same complaint !

This is a sitting -in-the- garden sunny day reflection —- not so much a grumble more an ironic smile.

It’s natural to be potitive about life when sitting in the sun, especially when the spring birds are joyfully singing their songs for free. The village church bells chiming out the hours of the day are a timely and welcome addition to the country orchestra.  Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of the BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRING   lawnmower of one of my neighbours. Not so much interrrrrrupting my trrrrain of thought , as completely obliterrrrrrrating any thoughts I could have strrrrrung togetherrrrrrrr. The mower not only cut the grass it gave a short ,back and sides to my brain as well !

If we are going to have any more human rights, how about a right to peace and quiet ? Maybe the Kilsby Parish Council could pass a bye-law that lawns can only be mown on  one fixed day a week.  If they could make it Wednsday when the bin men come we could get all the noise over and done with in one day.   On that day all the grumpy old men in the village, like me, could go to the pub in the next village where moeing could be done on a Thursday.

As I write this blog a small plane flys overhead and they must have forgotten to put oil in the engine, because it sounds like a Lancaster bomber. Iwonder if we can have a no-fly zone over Kilsby — except on Wednesdays.  It would certainly make air traffic controlers lives more interesting.

Isn’t that what localism is all about ?

Posted in GRUMBLES, SMILES | 7 Comments

“Longevity – Burden or Blessing ? “

Posted on March 23, 2011 by john graham

Almost a year ago on the 7th April 2010, I wrote a blog entitled “How did we become such a burden?”  It was sub-titled “unravelling the demographic and economic clash”.  According to a report by the National Institute of Economic and Social Research, the situation needs to start “unravelling” very soon or it will be too late to avoid an even bigger economic disaster than the one caused by the recent banking crisis.  The paper predicts that the ageing population will lead to a widening gap between the money we spend and the money we raise in taxes – some £85 billion per year by 2058.  The “unravelling” options are stark and difficult both politically for Government and individually for the old and the young.  For older people it means a later retirement age and lower levels of free health and social care.  For the younger generations taking no action would mean a doubling of taxation to pay for the ageing population.

This is not a new message, it is just one that we collectively do not want to hear.  The point of my blog last year was to attempt to explain the demographic growth in the ageing population, which didn’t happen overnight – it took decades – indeed generations.  There was ample time to plan for the future, but the majority of us individually did not save enough in pensions and collectively our politicians focussed on the short-term rather than long-term planning because few of us would vote for the higher costs of social care if it meant higher taxes.

It is a collective failure which we will now have to redress —– and it won’t be easy.

In a blog in June 2010 I commented on an article in The Times by the journalist and economist Anatoly Kaletsky which forecast tension between generations.  He accurately predicted there would have to be cutbacks in pensions, health care and long-term care.

Just look what has happened since.

In terms of pensions:-

  • Retirement age has been abolished
  • The State pension is now annually increased but only linked to CPI not RPI
  • Eligibility for a State pension is gradually moving back toward 70
  • Final salary pensions have all but disappeared in the private sector and are planned to be reduced in the public sector

Health care:-

  • NHS elderly care is under severe criticism in terms of quality
  • Social Services support is limited to critical and substantial cases only
  • Residential care homes are struggling to survive economically
  • Long-term care funding awaits the outcome of the Dilnot Commission but it is clear there will be a significant element of sharing the cost in future between the individual and the State

There is an inevitability about the direction that all these moves are taking, and no question that most people are going to have to pay more for their old age.  It would be best to greet this outcome not as the burden we all have to carry, but as the blessing of all the additional years we have been given in later life.  To do this, our focus needs to move away from costs and cuts towards a new and positive vision of ageing.

 

Posted in ELDERLY UK POLICY | Tagged | 2 Comments

“The £140 Pension Illusion” 2

Posted on March 20, 2011 by john graham

Back in October 2010, I first wrote very scathingly about the announcement by Steve Webb, the Pensions Minister of a huge increase in the basic State pension.   Recently an article in The Times suggests that it may not be such an illusion, and after a tough battle with the Treasury our Magical Minister my be winning the argument.   I am not apologising yet though and it may not turn out to be such a good trick after all.

Lets look back at the positives :-

The confidently spoken assurances that are designed to lull you into a false sense of security.   £140 is a whopping 40% increase for single pensioners and a massive 75% extra for married couples.   What could you possibly not like about that?   The other great virtue is that such big increases will sweep away means testing for thousands of pensioners.   It’s all such a tantalising offer that you really want to believe it.

As with all great tricks there are always a few lingering doubts – it’s the art of the conjurer to convince you to overlook them.

The doubts are all about “how is it all going to be paid for ?”   That was why the Treasury was not fully persuaded that the trick could be pulled off successfully.

The overall cost of the measure was helped by the fact that it was not going to be introduced until 2015 (this was subtly changed to 2016 by Iain Duncan Smith at the Age UK Annual Conference) and then only for new pensioners.   Politically this would seem to make the trick impossible, since all the older pensioners would vote against any Government that performed such an unfair trick.

So what else has the Magic Minister got up his sleeve.   Firstly, by taking more people out of the means test, it denies them a ‘passport’ to other benefits (Pension Credit and Minimum Income Guarantee) which is giving to the poorest pensioners with one hand and then cruelly taking it away with the other.   The second deception is even harder to detect because it probably involves taking away non-means tested benefits such as Attendance Allowance and Winter Fuel Allowance.   Surely this is a step too far, although it has been suggested before, no-one has been bold enough to try it.   YET !

At the end of every great illusion you are meant to be baffled and amazed, so I hope I am wrong about how this trick is to be performed.   Otherwise the Magic Minister will have succeeded in shifting money to the wealthiest elderly people only by taking it away from the poorest and frailest pensioners.

Posted in ELDERLY UK POLICY, Pensions | Tagged , , | 26 Comments

“Breakfast Exercise” 4

Posted on March 15, 2011 by john graham

Teased out into the garden today, the allure of the first signs of spring, and the need to throw off my winter cold.  Started my Tai Chi routine but the deep breathing still inhibited by my blocked nose.  The antibiotics haven’t had their 48 hour slow start out of the box.  After a short while, a coughing fit is all the excuse I need to stop and sit down with a cup of tea.

An opportunity to study my garden.  Lots of daffodils well out of the ground but not yet raising their bright yellow heads.  Good job they are not in Wales, they would be late for St. David’s Day – no wonder we wore paper ones to school.  The sedum has already formed its early green florets nestled under the now dead stalks of autumn seed heads, still standing like gravestones marking last year’s achievements.  The perennial geranium leaves are just starting to show their leaves sheltered under the comforting thatch of brown leaves of yesterday.  Young growth still in need of the protection of old age until all signs of frost has disappeared.

All over the garden bulbs are forcing through the wet winter soil.  The occasional early birds are darting about catching the worm and our last year’s Robin is back again inspecting his nest – deep in the Ivy high up on the wall of the house out of reach of Charlie the curious cat.

After one of the coldest winters ——- new life, new beginnings springing from old roots.

Perhaps out of this era of economic austerity and social decline the elderly can dig deep into their years of wisdom and experience to find a new vision of later life for themslves and a learning partnership with the youth of today.

Posted in SMILES | Tagged | 2 Comments

“Age UK – Agenda for Life 2011”

Posted on March 10, 2011 by john graham

On Tuesday of this week I went to the Annual Conference of the two organisations that were formerly called “Help the Aged” and “Age Concern”. 

It wasn’t long before I was thinking I had stepped into a parallel universe – the shiny new, new speak world of Age UK.  The world I had just come from only the day before seemed to be an era of neglect of older people and austerity cuts.  In the last few months, there has been so much talk of complaints about NHS care of the elderly, reports by Age UK themselves on malnutrition and 80% Government cuts in Supporting People funding mainly affecting voluntary organisations and charities.  Maybe my expectations were too high, but I had assumed I would see some of the forefathers of Dylan Thomas “raging against the dying of the light and old age burning and raveing at the close of day”. 

When I saw on the agenda that two of the speakers in a panel discussion on “Integrating Health and Social Care” were Jo Webber, the Deputy Director of the NHS Confederation and Dame Jo Williams, Chair of the Care Quality Commission, I at least hoped they would give the politely listening group of older people some rotten tomatoes for audience participation………………..sadly – no such luck.

The opening speech by Tom Wright, the new Chief Executive of Age UK, was all powerpoint and market speak.  The £100 billion grey market is forecast to grow by 81% between 2005 and 2030.   Tom seemed delighted by this, because it will guarantee that everyone in the years ahead is advised by Age UK, to get insured by Age UK, in case they fall out of their Age UK stair lift, on their way down from their Age UK bath and shower, to a breakfast provided by the Age UK sponsor – Sainsbury’s, who just love older people.

The new speak continued throughout the day.  Everything was “embedded” and definitately “sustainable”.  In this belated 1984 world, we are all “equal” and we all have “rights” – “equal rights”.  We are all “engaged” – presumably to each other? – and everything is “counter-intuitive” or it isn’t because it doesn’t make sense.  Oh! and in the Sainsbury’s bit of the world, the staff are all “colleagues” who intend to “shine their light” on their grey colleagues.  We just need a quick chorus of “Shiny Happy People” and all will be bliss.

Almost euphoric after this first session, I was really looking forward to the tomato throwing in the group therapy session on the NHS and Social Care.  Jo Webber came on and reassured that everything was wonderful in the NHS and there was no need to mention malnutrition (indeed nobody did).  It probably never happened and even if it did nobody was to blame, there was not enough money, the staff were too busy and “lessons would be learned”. 

Tom Wright had already told us that 176,000 older people like the NHS so much that they go back into hospital within a month of being discharged.  What better endorsement of the service could a marketeer want than repeat customers!

Dame Jo Williams, the electric Chair of the Care Quality Commission, further reassured us that if anyone at all delivered poor care in future, they would be beaten remorselessly with a big stick.  The audience by this point was so comforted that they forget to throw the tomatoes and politely applauded instead.

The “final solution” in this session came from the new techno age, when Dr Petra Wilson of the American computer software company CISCO Systems told us that help was at hand (or mouse).  It is just a matter of time before all our care needs can be provided by Telecare kettles that report on our health to big brother in the “cloud” every time we have a cup of tea.  In this new world future if we want companionship we can have a digital cuddly toy instead of a pet.  Presumably if you don’t keep talking and stroking it, either you or the pet are dead!   We need never speak to a real person ever again.

Just when it looked like it could not get any better, the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Iain Duncan Smith was billed to speak about pensions.  An engineered leak in The Times, The Guardian and on BBC had rumoured that he was going to announce we will all get a £140 pension in future.  He is a very polished speaker which suited this, by now, shiny audience.

Strangely at an Age UK conference for older people, he talked mainly about children and the need to protect their futures in later life.  It was almost as though he was explaining that there wasn’t any money for the current generation of elderly people but that by 2050 everything would be alright.  Then came the crescendo of his speech – the big announcement – when he had raised all hope and expectation this “Quiet Man” lived up to his reputation and said………………. NOTHING!

 

Posted in ELDERLY UK POLICY | Tagged | 2 Comments