26 – Habilitation and rehabilitation

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There is a disjuncture between children and adult services at local authority levels. This has the impact of treating children and adults as two separate entities rather than regarding the development of the whole person and access to adequate social development and support across the life span. The support provided to families with disabled children has also been shown to be inadequate with families needing to travel a greater distance than appropriate or face separation from their children. The system is failing with further cuts to support compounding the situation[1]

The ‘Transforming Community Equipment Services (TCES)’ is a scheme to provide aids and equipment that is subject to the eligibility criteria of local authorities and/or health, meaning that few people may be entitled to the voucher of a certain amount based on assessment from a local authority or health provider. The Government have developed what they call a retail scheme, this means that if the voucher is not enough individuals can top-up to the required amount.[2] However, rather than advancing the access to aids this appears a retrogressive step, as previously such aids were provided fully free of charge.

[1] http://www.scope.org.uk/Scope/media/Images/Publication%20Directory/Keep-us-close.pdf?ext=.pdf

[1] http://www.bristol.ac.uk/wtwpn/resources/facts-pwld.pdf

[2] http://www.haringey.gov.uk/index/social_care_and_health/physical-disabilities/communityequipment.htm

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