Domiciliary Care Changes in Thanet and The Emperor’s New Clothes

The provision of domiciliary care provided by social services in Kent has recently been transformed beyond recognition. At Caremark Thanet we believe that you have an inviolable right to choose who comes into your home to care for you.   

How Your Choice of Home Care Provider Has Been Reduced

Prior to this year, 2014, Kent County Council (KCC) worked with over 120 private home care providers throughout Kent. This has been reduced to just 23. [In Thanet, there are just 3 providers. The providers from July 2017 are listed here.] However you look at it, however it is explained, however it is justified: the single, inescapable fact is that if you receive care wholly or partly funded by social services, your scope to choose your home care provider has been conspicuously reduced.  

We are acutely aware of the challenges faced by KCC. The position is very simple. Whilst there is only so much money available for domiciliary care, the demand for that care, for many reasons, continuously increases. It is estimated that the change implemented by KCC will save around £2.7 million per year. You can read more about KCC’s changes to your home care provision here.  

However much we may appreciate the fact that hard choices have to be made when it comes to using a finite resource, we cannot accept that it is correct to reduce the number of providers (a reduction that may include your existing provider) from which you may choose your home care service. Whatever benefits the changes may bring: restricting your choice is not one of them. It is well to remember the story of the Emperor’s new clothes, a fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen. 

Hans Christian Andersen, Charles Dickens and the Isle of Thanet

Hans Christian Andersen was a visitor to the beautiful Isle of Thanet where, in 1847, in Ramsgate, he met the man he greatly admired, a man who had a long association with Kent, Thanet and, especially, Broadstairs: Charles Dickens. Andersen is said to have remarked (possibly in Danish because his English is thought to have been quite weak) that immediately upon meeting Dickens he felt that they had known each other well. Dickens was, at first, equally charmed by the Danish poet although, it seems, that Dickens’s liking for Andersen cooled somewhat.  

On Andersen’s first visit to Ramsgate, he stayed in a hotel then called The Royal Oak Hotel. The hotel still exists, known now as The Oak Hotel, located on the harbour in Ramsgate. Before Andersen returned home, he and Dickens dined in Broadstairs. The next morning, Andersen sailed from Ramsgate and Dickens was at the harbour to wave him off. 

Hans Christian Andersen was a prolific story writer. Many of his fairy tales are very well known to us. They include The Little Mermaid, The Princess and the Pea, The Ugly Duckling and, of course, a story that just seems so pertinent given the context of the changes occurring in Thanet’s home care provision, The Emperor’s New Clothes. 

The Emperor’s New Clothes
In The Emperor’s New Clothes  an Emperor is taken for a bit of a ride by a couple of tricksters who tell the him that the fine clothes that they will make him will be invisible to anyone not fit for office. No-one can see the clothes, not even the Emperor himself, because they do not exist. Everyone knows the reality but refuses to admit it, until a little boy watching the Emperor’s procession shouts out that the Emperor has no clothes.  

Fairy tales are often more than just good stories that we tell to children. They often have a moral or a message for us. The moral may be lost on us as kids, but may well resonate with us as adults. The Emperor’s New Clothes exhorts us not to be afraid to challenge what is not right. Merely conforming will not make something good which is clearly not capable of being good. To look at this form a slightly different angle, something is not necessarily good just because everyone seems to be saying how good it is. 

If your home care is wholly or partly funded by social services, the reduction in your scope to choose your home care provider is one of those things that are not good. Nothing can make this good. This Emperor may have no clothes but there is something you can do: ask social services to provide you with direct payments. 

Direct Payments

Under normal circumstance, if your home care is wholly or partly funded by social services, you have a right to receive a direct payment. Kent County Council has a helpful page about direct payments. The great thing about direct payments is that they put you back in control of choosing your care provider. 

Direct payments work very simply. Kent County Council pays a sum of money into your bank account or onto your Kent Card that allows you to buy your domiciliary care from a provider of your choice. The Kent Card is a Debit card available from KCC. For more details about the Kent Card go to this page.  

You have a right to choose who provides care in your home. You have a right to receive a direct payment if your care is wholly or partly funded by social services. Caremark Thanet are happy to advise you about direct payments. 

If you would a like free no obligation chat about direct payments contact us on 01843 235910, or email us at thanet@caremark.co.uk.

 

Garry Costain is the Managing Director of Caremark Thanet, a domiciliary care provider with offices in Margate, Kent. Caremark Thanet provides home care services throughout the Isle of Thanet. Garry can be contacted on 01843 235910 or email garry.costain@caremark.co.uk. You can also visit Caremark Thanet's website at www.caremark.co.uk/thanet.