CARE CRISIS: IT MUST BE FIXED NOW MR HUNT!
Frustration over delay to solving funding injustice
JEREMY Hunt was last night told to “get on with it” and deliver radical social care reform.
The plea came as years of frustration finally boiled over in the wake of his keynote speech outlining the Government’s plans for the underpressure sector.
In his first major intervention on social care since the Conservative election debacle, the newly named Health and Social Care Secretary was accused of delivering “warm words but no action”. In a speech
setting out his plans for a forthcoming Green Paper, he did not announce any significant new funding or immediate policies aimed at bringing the UK’s crisis-hit social care system back from the brink.
The sector has been underfunded for many years and faces a £2.5billion funding gap by 2020.
This has left many thousands of pensioners and other vulnerable people either selling their homes to fund care home fees or facing care visits of just 15 minutes a day from carers who are supposed to help them wash, dress and eat in that time.
Instead, Mr Hunt announced seven general principles of reform: quality and safety; integrated NHS and social care; giving control to those receiving care; a valued workforce; better practical support for families and carers; a sustainable funding model; and greater security for all.
Demonstrate
But critics and campaigners queued up to demand action now, saying the sector was on the verge of collapse after one of the worst winters in many years and with more people living longer but experiencing worse health in later years.
Alex Hayman, of consumer magazine Which?, said: “Vulnerable elderly people and their families struggling with the care system have heard enough talk.
“It’s time for the Government to finally ensure that everyone has access to high quality, affordable care.
“Elderly care in this country is on the brink. Our research has shown that almost nine in 10 council areas across England may not have enough care home places to meet demand.
“There are things the Government can do right now to protect elderly people and their families from unfair fees after death, unexpected charges and unclear contracts.
“Ministers must demonstrate their commitment to helping older people in the care system by acting now.”
Genevieve Edwards, of the MS Society, said: “One in three people with MS are currently going without the care they need so it’s crucial action is taken now. Jeremy Hunt’s seven principles for social care reform reflect some of our key concerns for people with MS, but until we see concrete proposals these are just warm words.” The Tory election campaign suffered a setback after the manifesto ditched plans to impose a cap on care costs – only for a panicked Prime Minister to reinstate the option of an upper limit days later without specifying at what level it would be set. The manifesto had set out plans, dubbed the “dementia tax” by critics, to include the value of elderly people’s properties when calculating how much they should pay towards the cost of care at home, as well as residential care.
After his speech at the Social Care Workers conference in London, Mr Hunt suggested a new cap on care costs would appear in the upcoming Green Paper, but he gave no details of any threshold it would be set at.
Mr Hunt admitted that health and social care workers are faced with “fragmented services” and “unprecedented pressure”.
He said fixing the problems in the system would take time and acknowledged there had been “stalled reform programmes” in the past.
The cabinet minister also set out plans for a joint 10-year NHS and social care workforce to align staff in both parts of the system.
ANOTHER day, another fudge about the best way to provide care in old age. This latest comes from Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt: he has said that health and social care workers face “fragmented services” and “unprecedented pressure”. Yes, we know that already. He has also said that social care costs “will be capped”. But what exactly does he intend to do about it?
We accept that it is a momentous task to integrate the NHS with local authority decisions but the fact is that we have known for years that the ageing population, especially dementia patients, are running up huge care costs and something has to be done.
It seems that every few months a new report comes out highlighting the problem and yet still the buck is passed on, endlessly postponed for another day, another health secretary. Well, we have had enough prevarication.
First we have to decide who will pay for care in old age. The individual or the state? In either case, how will this care be funded? Many countries have put in place an insurance scheme to help with the costs – is that what we should do here?
And we must stop pussyfooting around the NHS and demand that it be run as a business. There are endless examples of NHS waste and we must accept that it was set up in 1948 when the population was much smaller and life expectancy much shorter. It needs profound reform.
The best solution would be to bring in a business magnate with experience of huge conglomerations and task him or her with coming up with a solution. As it is, one government after another has lurched on without any real strategy. The time to act has finally come.