11 July 2012
Steve Winyard, Head of Campaigns at RNIB, said:
"The focus on capping individual's lifetime care costs is of course important. However, we must not allow the debate on the longer-term funding of social care to overshadow the issues affecting people with immediate care needs, who are really looking to the Government to act more decisively."
"We are concerned we are seeing yet more dither and delay when hundreds of thousands of older and disabled people struggling without state-funded care needed bolder action from a Government now entering its third year in power without legislating on reforms to adult social care."
"The White Paper contains a number of welcome proposals which RNIB has campaigned hard to secure, not least plans to maintain a comprehensive system of registers for blind and partially sighted people. It is extremely important that provisions like this are in place to ensure that local authorities can plan their services and so that blind and partially sighted people can be effectively referred to local support."
"At RNIB we believe that while there are undoubtedly difficult issues around the long term affordability of social care to discuss, thousands of people who are struggling right now should not be forgotten. The vast majority of people living with sight loss are judged to have 'low' or 'moderate' care needs, a problem intensified by local authority rationing. We need future legislation - and indeed solutions on funding - to address the unmet needs of groups, like blind and partially sighted people, who remain locked out from local authority care. We are pleased the Government has agreed to a national minimum eligibility threshold but await further detail on whether it will meet the needs of people living with sight loss."
"Recent research carried out by RNIB and public interest company OPM found that a worrying number of people with sight loss are on the verge of tipping from 'just managing' into 'not coping'. However, there are actions that local authorities can take - quick wins - which have the potential to transform lives."
"We will be studying the detail of today's White Paper and Progress Report with interest and making sure the needs of people with sight loss are represented in the final Bill. The legislation presents a once-in-a-generation opportunity to modernise and open up access to care and support so we will be looking to see progress in a number of key areas; including the design of community care assessments and the eligibility framework."