Today's Queen's Speech trails a social care bill. The new legislation will implement the prime minister's recent party conference pledge of free personal care for those older people with the greatest needs. Still to come is a much broader strategy to support older people to stay in their own home through preventative, personalised care and support. July's green paper proposed the creation of a national care service to take this forward.
One of the central planks of this approach could be making telecare available free to all who need it. We know already that for every £1 invested in new technology in people's homes, up to £12.60 is saved in more traditional health and care services. That's why Essex council is now offering telecare free to new users aged 80 and over in the county. A rapidly ageing population means the council's social services budgets would have to treble in the next 10 years just to stand still. So new solutions have to be found.
The same is true in North Yorkshire. The county council has already saved £1m in care costs in the last year through using telecare. Now the technology is being offered to everyone using adult social care, in a way that puts them in charge of their own care and enables them to lead their lives to the full.
So while the social care bill will address the care of those with the greatest needs, we should also look at an equally radical approach to prevention for those with lesser needs. Free telecare for all could become a major strand of a national care service.
It could save the country billions in health and care spending and, more important, it would give many more older people and their families a better quality of life. The forthcoming care white paper must invest in telecare to make this happen.
• Stephen Burke is chief executive of Counsel and Care
