Javid: We’ll end social care crisis as the virus alert eases
LONG-AWAITED plans to reform social care are coming “quite soon”, Sajid Javid promised yesterday.
The Health Secretary said an overhaul of the system to stop residents losing their homes and life-savings is now a “big priority”.
And he insisted the changes would have happened sooner if it were not for the pandemic.
He assured local government leaders that while detailed proposals are still being developed, the “general sense of direction” will be revealed shortly.
Mr Javid insisted that while his first task in his new job is to deal with the pandemic, he is “not simply the Covid Secretary”.
He said he wants to look at “everything under the sun” to improve the nation’s health.
He insisted that ending restrictions this month, despite a surge in cases, is still the right thing to do because any further delays would risk adding to winter pressures on the NHS.
Mr Javid told the Local Government Association that the country has a “much lower level of immunity” to flu than normal because of the lack of cases in 2020/21.
He insisted government scientists say it is “much better to open up going into the summer – for lots of reasons – than just waiting to do it in the winter”.
The Health Secretary is also reviewing the way the NHS app – that alerts people who have come into contact with a coronavirus case to self-isolate – works after public frustration with the system.
The number of exposure notifications sent to users in England has risen by more than 60 per cent, according to latest contact tracing figures.
A total of 356,036 alerts were sent in the week to June 30, up from 219,391 the previous week.
Ministers have been warned that millions of people could end up being “pinged” by the app or ordered to self-isolate by Test and Trace, with infections expected to hit around 100,000 cases a day in the summer.