Social Care News

Care home residents should have primary care 'at least' as good as those living in own homes, confirms Minister

Health Minister Mark Drakeford has placed a new emphasis on the rights of care home residents to have primary care 'at least' as good as those living in their own homes.
Giving the Welsh Government's response to the Older People's Commissioners report into residential care in the Senedd on February 12, he said: "I entirely agree with the Commissioner’s conclusion that basic services in audiology, optometry and dentistry, for example, must be of at least an equal standard for people in residential care as for anyone living in their own homes."

CFW senior policy adviser, Mary Wimbury, said: "We know this is not the case at the moment and members are asked to let us know of any problems or issues in accessing these services for care home residents, which would be freely available to them if they lived in their own homes."

Prof Drakeford also said: "Discussions are also under way with Community Pharmacy Wales to expand the discharge medicines review service to the care home setting." CFW's Melanie Minty is on the task group charged with looking at this.

"In the field of mental health, community mental health teams have links to and support care homes already when required, but I want to see these links formalised so that staff in residential care homes have a key contact within those teams," he added.

Prof Drakeford promised 'enhanced' dementia training for care home staff across Wales, saying that those who work in social care are "the sector's principal asset".