Access to respite care in Jersey is 'problematic'

Jersey's respite care is a "fundamental issue" within the island's Health and Social Care system, according to a scrutiny panel.

The Health and Social Security Scrutiny board has reviewed the Long Term Care (LTC) scheme on the island and given recommendations to the States of Jersey.

The LTC scheme was introduced in 2014 and is designed to help all adults with long term care needs.

Tax-payers pay 1% of their earnings into a fund that is ring-fenced for long-term care.

One of the 25 recommendations was the "problematic" respite care available to islanders.

Some of the main findings are as follows:

Respite Care

  • Some people struggle to gain access to respite care and present arrangements do not meet everybody's needs.

  • The panel believe that a detail review of respite provision should be undertaken.

Turnover of social workers

  • Due to a high turnover of staff when the scheme was introduced, the Scrutiny Panel have found that families are unable to build a relationship with their social workers. This has contributed to a lack of continuity within the service.

Complex system

  • There were a number of complaints about how complex the system is and how difficult it is to understand.

Lack of stimulation

  • For adults claiming the LTC benefit, there should be a greater focus on social activities. Similarly, older adults are often confined to the house with little stimulation.

Lack of personalisation

  • The Scheme "fails to provide sufficient personalised care to the individual". It was noted that a young adult might need their LTC benefit for more social activities, whilst older adults might need their benefit for more health related care.

Funding

  • The contribution rate to the LTC fund will need to increase over the next 20 years to match the ageing demographic.

The Scrutiny Panel did conclude that the scheme is "amongst the best internationally" and the States of Jersey should be congratulated on the foresight to create the scheme.

1177 individuals are currently being supported through the LTC scheme.