The amount spent by local councils on disabled facility grants has fallen by 10% since 2008 despite growing demand and unacceptable waiting times, according to government figures unearthed by the Welsh Liberal Democrats Housing Spokesperson, Peter Black.
Mr Black has expressed his concern that as a result plans by health boards and local councils to enable people to recover from treatment and live longer in their own homes are unworkable.
Mr Black said:
“Disabled Facilities Grants are essential to enable the elderly and disabled to live as independently as possible. That is thrust of government policy and yet, despite the cost of adaptations increasing the money spent on carrying them out has fallen by 11.5% over the last five years and continues to decline
“The average waiting time for a grant to be completed across Wales is 9 months, which is still too long. In one local authority the wait is 18 months. The longer people have to wait for these adaptations then the longer they will stay in hospital, the more dependent they are upon others, and the chance of accidents and readmitance into hospital increases. That is a cost to our Health service and means that others have to wait longer.”
