Torrent of bad news on social care sends warning to Govt

A torrent of bad news on social care today sends a bleak weather warning to the Government on the urgent need for reform, the Independent Care Group said today.

Age UK has reported that the number of people living without the social care they need has jumped to 2m – up from 1.6m last year.

And there are reports from up and down the country of care provision being withdrawn due to financial cutbacks.

Today the ICG warned that the Government could not go on ignoring the crisis.

ICG Chair Mike Padgham said: “Once again we have the bleakest of news on adult social care – a staggering 2m people who cannot get even the basic help they need to live a decent quality of life, a quality of life the rest of us take for granted.

“That is our mothers and fathers, brothers and sister, aunts and uncles and friends who are being denied the most basic of support – from help getting out of bed, getting washed to making a meal to higher levels of care. It is a scandal that shames us as a country.”

He said the Government “had made positive noises” about reforming social care but change wasn’t coming quickly enough.

“It clearly isn’t their priority,” Mr Padgham added. “One of the Government’s first decisions was to axe the proposed cap on care costs, which didn’t bode well.

“And for all the health secretary and the Prime Minister’s rhetoric on improving pay for care workers and reforming social care, we are yet to see any meaningful moves.”

The ICG’s warning comes alongside news of threats to care provision across the country.

East Sussex County Council is looking at shutting down day services and other cuts because of a lack of funding. And in York, nine day clubs for older people are to close after the local council withdrew support – again due to funding shortages.

Mr Padgham added: “As a matter of urgency we must get greater financial support to social care commissioners, like local authorities, who are currently having to cut back on care because they simply don’t have the money to provide or commission it any more.”

Earlier this month, a report commissioned by the new Government, by Lord Darzi, cited problems in social care as a contributing factor to the ongoing crisis in NHS healthcare.

Mr Padgham added: “This deluge of bad news continues and it comes on top of years and years of reports and warnings that adult social care was on the brink of collapse, failing to support the people it is there to support and unable to play its part, alongside NHS healthcare, in the care of our communities.

“The new Government has promised reform and we continue to give the administration the benefit of the doubt that it will deliver. Those of us in the sector have a great deal of knowledge on what needs to be done and are willing and able to offer that support to the Government and to work with them on solutions to the crisis.

“As today’s figures from Age UK show, we cannot wait much longer. People are going without care and no Government should sit by and watch that happen without taking urgent action to tackle it.”

The ICG welcomed today’s State of Health and Care of Older People report from Age UK. It concludes that the country is failing to cope with the needs of an increasing number of older people.

“It is good that the older population is growing and that is something that should be celebrated,” Mr Padgham added. “We need to create a society where we can embrace that and where people can live long and fulfilling lives, with the support that they need, when they need it.”

The ICG is campaigning for full-scale reform to social care.

It has published its Five Pillars of Social Care Reform document, which proposes ring-fencing a percentage of GDP for care, creating a National Care Service, setting a minimum carer wage, establishing a task force for reform and creating fair tariffs for services such as care beds and homecare visits.

The ICG argues that shifting funding from the NHS to social care would eventually save money by providing more preventative care in our local communities and keeping people out of hospital, helping to cut waiting lists.

Labour conference leaves care in the cold

The Independent Care Group says the Labour government’s conference has so far left the care of older and vulnerable adults out in the cold.

They are disappointed at a lack of any promises of social care reform from the Prime Minister and other senior ministers in Liverpool.

“There is no light at the end of the tunnel for adult social care,” said ICG chair Mike Padgham.

“We have heard promise after promise on many, many different topics, but nothing, once again for social care.

“We have had a promise to cut NHS waiting lists but without reforming and improving social care, that is just a pipe dream.”

Mr Starmer told the conference that his sister is a care worker and that he wants to build a Britain where carers, who do important and “life-affirming” work are afforded the same respect as the Prime Minister.

But Mr Padgham added: “This is very welcome from the Prime Minister, but his rhetoric does not translate into reforming social care, providing more carers to look after our older, vulnerable and disabled people and reforming a sector where there are 131,000 care worker vacancies and where 1.6m people cannot get the care they need.”

At a fringe meeting, Health Secretary Wes Streeting said social care reform was necessary to address the crisis across healthcare. But he warned that reform was more likely to come in the second term of a Labour government.

Mr Padgham added: “How many more times will we be told that social care reform will have to wait? Until the number of people unable to get care has gone from 1.6m to 2m or 3m? Until the number of people unable to leave hospital through a lack of care has hit 15,000 or 20,000?

“And who is to say that Labour will get a second term?

“Promising to reform the NHS and cut waiting lists without tackling the crisis in adult social care is totally pointless – one cannot happen without the other and it needs to happen now, not five or 10 years down the road. You cannot get people out of hospital if there is no care available in the community to look after them. Once again, this conference is leaving social care out in the cold.

“We keep hearing short-term pain for long-term gain – all I can see is longer and longer-term pain, for no gain whatsoever. This might be a shared struggle, but social care is bearing more than its fair share and it is time that stopped.

“It is still early days for the Government, and we have to give them the benefit of the doubt. But we will continue to campaign for social care to get the reform it needs to support older, disabled and vulnerable people and support the NHS.”

Backing for Lib Dem pledge on social care

The Independent Care Group has backed a Liberal Democrat pledge to ensure social care does not get forgotten again.

ICG Chair Mike Padgham said: “It is vital that we avoid what happened under the last Conservative government, when the care of older, vulnerable and disabled adults was forgotten as politicians concentrate on more headline-grabbing issues.

“We welcome the pledge by the Liberal Democrat leader that he will join us in holding the Government to account on social care.

“If the Government is serious about saving and reforming the NHS, as we trust they are, they cannot do so without saving and reforming social care.”

The words come after Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey told his party conference today that “care and carers must not be forgotten and ignored any longer”.

He attacked both the Conservatives and the new Labour administration for failing to make social care a priority at the General Election. And he urged the Government not to make the same mistakes the Conservatives had and to act faster and be bolder, especially to avoid future winter crises.

Mr Padgham added: “When it comes to social care that has to be sound advice. The Conservatives did nothing for social care and the crisis in the sector and the problems in the NHS deepened. We cannot let the new Government do the same – we have to make sure they act faster and are bold in their reform.

“Mr Davey is right in his rejection of short-term measures. We need to invest in the long-term future of social care and the NHS. Money invested in social care supports the NHS by keeping people out of hospital. Invest now, save social care and save the NHS.”