Millions of pounds for social care is ‘a sticking plaster’
AN EXTRA £22.7m in funding to help meet the additional costs social care providers are incurring as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic has been announced today.
The money, announced by Health and Social Services Minister Vaughan Gething, is in addition to the £40m the Welsh Government made available to local authorities in April to assist the adult social care sector.
But the care industry in Wales has labelled the latest funding announcement as being “only a temporary sticking plaster”.
Mr Gething said: “Social care plays a vital role in supporting some of the most vulnerable people in our communities and has been on the front line in our effort across public services to meet the challenges posed by Covid-19.
“The initial payment of £40m helped the sector meet the rising costs incurred during the pandemic
in areas such as staffing, increased infection control, higher food prices and greater use of ICT to keep families in touch with their loved ones where they were no longer able to meet.
“This further funding will ensure adult social care providers can maintain their vital care in what continues to be challenging circumstances.”
However Mario Kreft MBE, the chair of Care Forum Wales, warned that the system for funding care is “fundamentally broken”.
Mr Kreft said: “This extra funding and the kind words from the Health Minister are most welcome. But the extra money is only a temporary sticking plaster to tide the sector over until September.
“What we also need as a matter of urgency is a national action plan to implement fundamental long-term structural change to a broken and fragmented system.”
It is understood that the funding from the Welsh Government will be made available immediately and continue until the end of September after which the situation will be reviewed again.
However Mr Kreft said that the industry “cannot afford to wait until September”.
“There is no mention of additional financial support for continuing health care for nursing home residents which is funded via health boards,” he said. “Despite huge extra costs in the six months since February, nursing homes have not yet received an extra penny for these residents since it all started.”
“As a result there is a huge black hole in the funding of nursing homes and we hope this issue will also be addressed as a matter of urgency after months of prevarication by health boards.
“It’s a massive problem, particularly as nursing homes are where they have had the biggest number of voids or empty beds.
“That’s led to a big drop in occupancy levels which in turn has resulted in a huge drop in income and local authorities will now be expected to address this issue in future.
“It is now August and this funding covers the period from July 1 so providers were becoming increasingly desperate.
“We cannot afford to wait until September to review the overall situation again. We need to start planning now so we can sustain the sector through this coming winter so that, crucially, care homes and nursing homes can support the NHS.”
Up until June 19, a total of 717 of the most vulnerable people in our society had died with the virus after it got inside care homes.
Last month the Western Mail conducted an investigation into coronavirus in Welsh care homes, which found medical and political leaders were slow to act to prevent the virus infiltrating the nation’s care homes, despite them being identified as the most at risk before coronavirus even arrived in Wales.
‘Coronavirus in Welsh care homes – the disaster that didn’t have to happen’ can now be read in full on our website www.walesonline.co.uk