A CHARITY has called for a major change to the savings limit required for those who must pay for nursing home places following controversial plans to means test for community care packages.
The director of Age NI, Duane Farrell, said the current cap of £23,250 - if patients have this sum in savings or property they are legally required to pay for their own residential care - was "way too low" and called for it be raised to £125,000 based on current house prices.
Mr Farrell was speaking in the wake of a review of adult social care services in Northern Ireland which has recommended a radical overhaul of the sector which was described as "collapsing in slow motion".
Among a whole raft of recommendations, the review called for people to be charged for care home packages - which is currently provided free by the health trusts - a move which sparked an outcry among cancer charities and trade unions.
Health trusts spend £900 million each year on social care, which includes day care, domiciliary care packages and residential care.
Mr Farrell said: "Any debate about this charge could not be on the basis of the £23,250 capital limit as anyone who owns a house would be affected. Research carried out in Britain suggested that the limit should be raised to £125,000 - and we would absolutely agree with that.
"But the other element of this is that there cannot be a two-tier system. There cannot be a system where people who pay for care get access to better quality care or a different type than people who don't have those means and get a lesser service."
In an interview yesterday, one of the author's said that the criteria used when assessing who should be charged for nursing homes placements should also be applied to those who may have to pay for domiciliary care packages.
"The choices are very difficult, we're saying it should be fair," John Kennedy told the BBC Nolan show.
"If you are saying somebody going into a care home should use their housing asset to pay for that, then I think that someone receiving domiciliary care that it's only fair that it should be the same for them."
Age NI, which last received calls from 13,000 people, said they expected an influx of referrals following the publication of the Department of Health report which was ordered a year ago.
Mr Farrell, who has been with the charity for 13 years, said social care was a hugely important issue and one which they "cannot afford to lose momentum on".
He welcomed elements of the report, including putting rights of carers on a legal footing.
"Families continue to do the lion's share of the lifting and their rights must be acknowledged," he added.
He called on the Department of Health to act on the report and urgently put it out to consultation.
