We must fix our care system now

FOR years we have known that we have long-term and serious issues of how we fund care in our country.

In Wales the system is convoluted beyond belief. Funding is allocated through local councils and health boards which means there are 29 variations of how homes are funded. This means the vast majority of care home residents are publicly funded and providers therefore need to navigate a complex, and often unfair, system.

There is something of a postcode lottery plaguing the sector in Wales which means that a provider in Cardiff can receive £12,000 a year more than a provider in Powys for exactly the same level of service in providing care for one person.

There is also a North-South divide with the top eight councils for paying high fees all in south Wales.

As well as knowing that there are serious deficiencies in the system, we also know that this is going to get progressively worse for two reasons. Firstly, problems left to fester invariably grow worse, but more importantly we have an ageing population. We have known for decades that this is going to put serious financial and structural pressure on our social care system as we are hit by the double whammy of simultaneously having more people who need care and less people of working age to help fund it.

The reason this was ignored is because, frankly, it is difficult, expensive and many of these vulnerable people don’t or can’t vote.

All of this was the case long before coronavirus, but the pandemic has laid bare the issues within our system, with the virus devastating many homes.

By mid June 717 of the most vulnerable people in our society in Wales had died with the virus after it got inside our care homes.

Health and Social Services Minister Vaughan Gething has today announced almost £23m in extra funding ahead of a review in September. But the industry says this is just “a sticking plaster” and that waiting until September will be too late to answer its needs and to start planning for a second wave.

We know a second wave is coming and we can’t afford to be caught short again. We must use this crisis as the catalyst to make long-term changes for how we look after our most vulnerable.

The best time to fix the roof is when the sun is shining, the most urgent time is when the water is pouring in – and the flood has begun. There can be no more delay in fixing this system.