Care crisis exposes May’s empty words
WHEN Theresa May took up the post of Prime Minister, she promised to fight injustice and create a Britain that works for everyone. At the Conservative Party Conference she promised to not shirk the big decisions.
Well, just months into her time as Prime Minister, it would appear the Government is failing our oldest and most vulnerable people on all of those pledges.
A lack of investment in social care has meant the sector is now in crisis. Age UK fears social care could begin to collapse this year and says 1.2m people over 65 – about one in eight – now live with an unmet care need, 48 per cent more than in 2010. Some £160m has been cut from older people’s social care since that year.
As a care provider, I am dismayed to see care homes, in my local area and all over the country, closing and homecare providers handing back contracts that they cannot deliver. It is getting harder and harder to recruit nursing and care staff or to pay them what they deserve for the job they do.
Ahead of the Budget, I invite the Prime Minister to come and see life on the front line and see what it means to try to deliver care to older, frail and vulnerable people in 2017. Then see if she feels the Government is fighting injustice, creating a Britain that works for everyone and facing up to the big decisions.
From: Coun Peter Gruen (Lab), Leeds City Council.
CAN I congratulate your journalists for their thorough, well-researched and broadly based reporting of the current state of our NHS here in Leeds and, of course, nationally?
At a time when uncomfortable reporting is dismissed as ‘fake news’, your investigation took in all aspects. The news does not get better, does it? Today my Health Board heard about the chronic shortage of well-qualified and experienced nurses in both hospitals and community.
Mindful of the fantastic efforts of all staff in A&E, well above any expectations we have a right to have, we sent our heartfelt thanks to them all and I hope your readers will endorse this.
From: David Craggs, Shafton Gate, Goldthorpe.
AS I approach my 80th year, I find myself watching, listening to and reading about dementia. As I do so, I am becoming more and more convinced that it will not be cured by some sort of ‘silver bullet’, but will be prevented, or at least delayed from attacking us by some sort of lifestyle strategy.
It has surprised me that the Government has never carried out an extensive survey to look for possible links between lifestyle, and the onset of dementia, by inviting those, say 60 and over, to fill in a questionnaire about their diet, drinking habits, sleep patterns, physical and mental exercise, family history and so on.
From: Ron Firth, Campsall.
THE numbers attending A&E could be greatly reduced by local GPs providing an overnight service, as they did for many years.
It is surely wrong to judge hospital visits on the length of waiting times before being seen by medical staff. Until a patient is in the room, there is no telling how long the examination or treatment will take and the last thing patients need is for that consultation to be cut short so that the time target can be met.
Finally the numbers and cost of administration staff need severely pruning with the proceeds used to recruit and train more medical staff. Is it vital for nurses to obtain a degree? Surely the best source of knowledge comes from working on the wards? Nursing is a practical task, not a theoretical one.
From: Delia Coburn, Ackworth.
NO more lottery rollovers. Pay it straight into the NHS.