Fears over care 'information gap'

There is a lack of information to help people with conditions such as diabetes to access local services, a study says. The Picker Institute said patients with chronic conditions and their carers often came up against "brick walls" when looking for help.

Researchers said councils, charities and the NHS struggled to give accurate and adequate information. It comes as the government aims to move care in England out of hospitals and into the community.

The Picker Institute consulted focus groups and carried out mystery shopper exercises whereby people contacted different bodies with fictional, but typical, queries. It said charities, councils and primary care trusts, which are in charge of local services, often pointed patients in the wrong direction or did not have the information available. Research showed that it was common for official bodies not to ring people back.

They said patients, and those looking after elderly relatives with long-term conditions such as dementia and heart disease, were interested in a variety of information. This includes what care and support groups are available and what financial benefits they are entitled to.

The Picker Institute said it was only when GPs or social services referred patients on that a fuller range of services could be accessed. It warned that even family doctors or social care professionals did not know everything that was on offer, but said there was no reason why they should.

The institute said each health and social care "patch" - England is divided into 150 - should set up a central team to handle requests. It also said there had to be closer integration between health and social care teams.

Lead researcher Angela Coulter said: "Potential service users were frequently pushed from person to person, or from organisation to organisation. "They were often left dangling by calls that went unanswered. They encountered sheer brick walls."

The Patients' Association agreed more help was needed. A spokeswoman said: "Too often patients are left with little or no help. It can be like a maze and I think the biggest problem is the gap between health and social care."

Health minister Rosie Winterton said the Department of Health would use the report to help improve services. She added: "Dispensing good, clear information is as important as prescribing pills or performing operations."