SOCIAL CARE needs emergency action today before any cross-party talks or Royal Commissions, The Independent Care Group has warned.
The ICG wants to see the new Labour Government tackle the crisis in social care staffing before any other measures.
Its warning comes amidst reports that the Government wants a Royal Commission on social care to gain cross-party consensus on tackling the crisis.
And it comes after council social care directors warned that the country was struggling to meet ever-more complex demands for care.
ICG Chair Mike Padgham said: “We hear today from ADASS that the financial situation in social care is as bad as it has ever been so the need for immediate action has never been greater.
“We fully understand the desirability of getting cross-party agreement on how to tackle the current situation and the appeal of a Royal Commission – but we would say we need to see an emergency switching of funds from the NHS into social care to tackle chronic unmet needs BEFORE setting out on any long-term investigations and reports.
“Tony Blair ordered a Royal Commission on Long-term Care in 1997. It took two years to publish its report and nothing came of it. Since then, we have seen at least eight Green Papers, four White Papers and two government-commissioned enquiries, and are now meeting our 15th secretary of state for health and our 18th minister for social care in that 27-year period. You will understand if we are a little sceptical of any more reports or commissions.”
ADASS – the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services – says its spring survey of councils paints “an unsustainable and worrying picture.”
It reports that more and more people are needing ever more complex care, resulting in others missing out due to stretched resources.
Mr Padgham said the answer lay in getting more resources to councils to commission more care and to improve pay for those working in the sector.
“Everywhere you look there is unmet need and that is only going to get worse, with social care deserts cropping up in some parts of the country,” he added.
“We need to move funding into preventative measures, including social care provision, which keeps people out of hospitals. We can only do that by getting sufficient funding into social care that enables the sector to pay staff properly and tackle the 152,000 staff shortage we currently have.
“Providing care for people in their own home has been a central plank to all governments’ policies in recent years but none has tackled a lack of proper funding that would enable that need to be met.
“As a country we need to be bold and act now so that people can get care at home. And we need to support care and nursing homes, not only because they provide long-term care when it is desirable but for the vital role they also play in rehabilitation, caring for people in the short term so that they can return home – a role that can get overlooked. We need to do all that now, not wait until we have the results of a Royal Commission to tell us what we already know.”
The ICG warns that 1.6m people currently cannot get the care they need and the sector is short of 152,000. The sector will need to recruit an extra 440,000 to meet increasing demand by 2035.