It includes figures that suggest the number of older people not getting help has risen by nearly 50% since 2010. …

… three pieces of research showed:

There are now an estimated 1.2 million over-65s going without help for care – nearly one in eight of all older people

Some 300,000 of them have difficulty with three or more tasks, including dressing, bating and going to the toilet

Councils agreed to help under half the 1.3 million people who approached them for care last year

The BBC identified 11 councils that rejected more than 75% of applications
Where home care was provided “serious problems” were identified in the way dementia patients were treated

Staff said they had not been given enough training to cope with the complex needs people had

Families reported examples of poor care, including loved ones not being given medication, being left in dirty clothes for days and going missing after homes had not been properly secured

Caroline Abrahams, of Age UK, said she was “extremely worried” about the “shameful” state of the care system.

“The sad irony is that it would be far more effective as well as infinitely more humane to give older people the care and support they need,” she said. …

…Councillor Izzi Seccombe, of the Local Government Association, said: “Unless social care is properly funded, there remains a growing risk to the quality and safety of care, and the ability of services caring for our elderly and vulnerable to meet basic needs such as ensuring people are washed and dressed or helped out of bed.”