Government’s care pledges need to go further

SIR – The Health Secretary’s pledge yesterday of £240 million of emergency funding for social care is a definite step in the right direction.

However, we must question why the social-care sector is going to receive just £240million in funding while the NHS is set to receive an additional £20.5 billion, when both sectors offer vital services and are under an unprecedented amount of pressure.

We must not forget the bleakness of last year’s NHS winter crisis. Now is the time to put structures in place across health and social care services so we can be sure that the system does not fail the people it is meant to serve, at the time they most desperately need it.

For too long, people have suffered unnecessarily as they find themselves trapped in hospital beds through no fault of their own.

Currently more than one fifth of people say that they do not believe social care work is valued by the Government. This perception must change if we are to provide future generations with the help they need.

Historically, it has been frustrating because there are solutions on offer that have not been taken up on a wider scale. Anchor’s successful trials offering “re-ablement” beds at a care home in Birmingham have shown that better alignment of the health and social-care sectors can improve lives and save the NHS hundreds of thousands of pounds.

Autumn’s long-awaited Green Paper is a chance for the Government to turn this crisis around, giving today’s and tomorrow’s older people the respect and peace of mind they deserve.

CEO, Anchor London WC1