Parliamentary candidate Rob Loughenbury writes "Home Care in Lancashire is changing. Reforms being driven by Lancashire County Council are affecting vulnerable people and the professionals who provide care on the frontline.
Recently I have held meetings with senior figures at the Council to dig into the reforms in detail. I tabled questions on behalf of Chorley-based care providers who tell me that they face an uncertain future.
The Council is reducing its list of preferred providers of home care for older people. Although I understand the drivers behind this approach, one damaging result is that specialist providers, which often cater for those with complex needs, will fall out of the system. I don’t think we cannot afford to lose their expertise or the variety of services that they offer.
This is happening at the same time as the Council fine tunes the personalised budgets programme, which is intended to give people more choice over the care they receive. I want to make sure that choice in care is not limited and that those who need care receive the best possible support to make an informed decision."