We are proud of the contribution which the Caring Choices initiative has made in influencing the government’s decision to launch a full consultation. Thank you all for your contributions at events and also through your posts on this website.

We intend to keep the website available as a resource, but as the initiative has now come to an end we will be not be allowing comments to be added from Thursday, 19 June 2008. You can continue to play a part in the government consultation and have your say by visiting http://www.careandsupport.direct.gov.uk/

Prime Minister Gordon Brown visited the King’s Fund on 12 May 2008 to announce the six-month consultation. The consultation will address the challenges of affordability, personalisation and how to promote better collaboration between health and social care services. The Prime Minister said he wanted care to be more responsive to demands for independence, making it easier for people to stay in their own homes.

Video extracts from his speech and feedback from table discussions at the event are available on the King’s Fund website.

The final Caring Choices report, The Future of Care Funding: Time for a change, is now available to download.

More than 700 older people, carers and others were invited to share their experiences and views at our events throughout 2007. This final report, which draws on the evidence heard from these discussions, as well as a survey of those who attended the events and input from web visitors, will conclude the collaboration’s programme of work.

Download The Future of Care Funding: Time for a change

Politicians from the three main parties say that cross-party consensus is achievable on reform of the social care funding system. Stephen O’Brien MP, Conservative Shadow Minister for Health, told delegates to the final Caring Choices event, in London on 14 November: ‘There is a large amount of political will at the moment to try and really solve this problem.’ Read the rest of this article »

The final Caring Choices roadshow event took place at the King’s Fund in London on 14 November. A full written report from the event will be available on this website soon, however audio from some of the event’s key discussions are now available for you to listen to. Read the rest of this article »

The question of how best to fund the care and support of older people is now back on the political agenda following the recent announcement by the government of a planned Green Paper identifying the key issues and options for reform of the current system in England. The sixth Caring Choices event, in Taunton, took place against this backdrop, with a sense of cautious optimism that it may be possible to influence the direction of future policy. The event, on 23 October 2007, was attended by more than 60 people with experience of social care, including service users, carers, providers, funders and commissioners. Read the rest of this article »

It is five years since Scotland introduced the policy of free personal care for older people; the fifth Caring Choices event was held in Edinburgh on 4 October 2007 to hear direct from older people, carers, providers, funders and commissioners of social care about their experiences of free personal care. Around 60 delegates attended, the majority being older people and carers. Read the rest of this article »

The government has undertaken to look afresh at all spending in connection with social care funding, with the announcement this week of a Green Paper on social care funding. Read the rest of this article »