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Time to offer choice to elderly homeless

THE review (In the Professional Press, July 3) of an article in Roof was worrying but somehow refreshing to read. Worrying because vulnerable older people should not be forced into temporary accommodation, refreshing because for too long society has turned a blind eye and it’s about time we talked openly about this shocking situation and did something about it.

Some 42,000 older people are unofficially homeless in England and Wales. It is shameful that pensioners find themselves in hostels or bed-and-breakfast accommodation – these places are ill-equipped to meet the care needs of older people.

The key to solving the problem is choice. Community care assessments of older people, carried out by social services, need to have a range of housing choices. These must combine care and support with social interaction and housing provision. More flexibility around community care assessments would also help to ensure that older people are placed in appropriate housing.

But getting older people out of shoddy temporary accommodation is just the beginning. When older people are placed in new surroundings they must be supported through the process. Only then will we help them mend their damaged confidence and self-esteem and ensure that they are properly recognised for the worthwhile contribution they can make to society.

Joe Oldman,
Help the Aged

Technology can save lives

THE essential information systems necessary to steer the NHS towards better standards are nowhere near ready. Until they are, medical error will remain the third-biggest killer in the UK, despite the best efforts of medical watchdogs (Passionate over patient safety, June 26).

The anachronistic distribution of patient data around the UK contributes significantly to mistakes that kill 40,000 people a year and cause hospital closets to rattle with litigious skeletons. Lacking any integrated IT tool the NHS is dangerously underequipped, allowing crucial data to be overlooked or retrieved too late to help patients.

Sir Ian Kennedy is not the first to feel frustration at political apathy. In 2001 a pioneering system comprising a centralised, nationally accessible database and electronic prescribing and medicines administration was trialled at Southend Hospital. The research from this trial concluded that 60 per cent of all medical errors were caused by poor transcription; most being preventable by computerisation. The system was proven to work, but was never given the go-ahead beyond the trial for “financial reasons”.

The Government’s National Programme for IT (NPfIT) is, to date, overblown, ill-considered and hinders rather than helps progress. The system at Southend would have cost a fraction of the £12 billion so far spent on the NPfIT and would already be established; helping to save lives, reducing litigation and encouraging staff that correcting errors, not hiding them, leads to safer practice.

At what point will the Government start listening to common sense?

Richard Barker,
managing director,
Sovereign Business Integration

Keeping children at school

THE General Teaching Council for England (GTCE) supports the New Philanthropy Capital (NPC) call for more investment in better intervention schemes for truant pupils (Convert truants into cash, July 10). Supporting children and young people to stay in school and achieve qualifications at 16 greatly improves their life chances and increases the likelihood of them contributing positively to society. Active participation in their education enables young people toform positive views of themselves. Raising self-esteem helps children to become socially responsible.

We are promoting a shared approach to improving services for children and young people in conjunction with the Nursing and Midwifery Council and General Social Care Council. Teachers are enthusiastic about collaborating with other professions, and it is vital that a wide range of individuals and organisations now work together in the interests of children’s safety, well-being and enjoyment.

Keith Bartley,
chief executive,
GTCE

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