A looming crisis

Social care neglected yet again

IT IS the television footage from inside Britain’s intensive care units which reveal the steps that NHS staff are having to take so that they, too, do not contract coronavirus.

For some, improvements to the supply – and distribution – of so-called PPE equipment is already too late. The number of doctors and nurses making the ultimate sacrifice in the line of duty now tops more than a dozen.

And that number will, tragically, continue to rise unless doctors and social carers working in local communities have the necessary equipment when being asked to assist Covid-19 victims.

Yes, it is heartening that universities and schools in Yorkshire are using their own facilities to produce face masks and so on. But respected local authority leaders here fear that an “acute” shortage of PPE equipment in care homes, and such like, are already leading to staff levels becoming dangerously depleted – a call echoed by Local Medical Councils.

And, ominously, they foresee further difficulties when it comes to discharging elderly and vulnerable patients from hospitals after treatment for fractures and other routine ailments – the pandemic hasn’t stopped hip fractures for example.

Difficult at the best of times, it’s even more important that there is spare capacity in care homes, and so on, so hospitals can focus on the Covid-19 fight. This serves as another reminder that NHS and social care provision needs to be seamless. Both sectors can’t operate in isolation. Yet this remains a daily occurrence which, regrettably, begs this question: What will it take for Ministers to act?