8:00am Thursday 18th March 2010
SIR – It appears that some while ago the Government pledged £150 million to pay for respite care for the elderly to allow people who are looking after them to have a break from this activity. These people save the country many millions by looking after sick and infirm people in their own homes.
This pledge was given as the centrepiece of the Government’s strategy for carers in 2008. All PCTs were given a share of the funding for two years.
Investigations under the Freedom of Information Act by charities concerned with the elderly have found that, among others, Worcestershire PCT did not give even one penny of their allocation of this fund to the people who it was meant for. It appears that the money was absorbed into general funds.
This letter is to bring this matter to the attention of readers and to ask for a response from the PCT. I wonder how much other so called “creative accounting” is going on with our money?
Terry James
Drakes Broughton
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