There is an urgent need for social care reform

SIR – It has now been almost two years since the announcement of the social care Green Paper (“Theresa May warned plans for £100,000 cap on care costs will require significant tax rises”, February 23). Yet Government dithering and inaction has brought social care to its knees.

We urgently need social care reform, which means overhauling the whole system, not just a cap on costs. Last year’s report by Independent Age: – “A Taxing Question: How to fund free personal care” – outlined that free personal care at a similar cost to what the Government was planning to spend would be the best option for all those needing social care. We also found that people would be willing to pay more in taxes if they could be reassured that the quality of the service provided would be better and fairer.

Fundamentally, if taxpayers are to be asked to pay more, they need to know they will get a better deal. A guarantee of free personal care does just that. George Mcnamara

Director of Policy, Independent Age London W14 SIR – Regarding obtaining NHS Continuing Healthcare funding, my own experience has been as difficult as that of Rear Admiral Philip Mathias (report, February 28), who claimed it had been as challenging as his work on Britain’s nuclear deterrent.

My husband has Lewy Body Dementia with Parkinson’s. I started to apply for funding early last year and my husband had three gruelling assessments, none successful. We were told that there was no primary healthcare need, despite that fact that he could not walk or talk, he was incontinent and he was unable to feed himself.

I was given 30 days to appeal the decision, but by this time (December) I could no longer cope with the 24-hour care.

My husband is now in a nursing home and I am spending our life savings on his care.

Had he had a stroke or a heart attack, he would be funded by the NHS. Lucia Ratcliffe

Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire