Impetus grows for national care service

Calls continue for the care sector to be either run on the same lines as the NHS or for there to at least be greater government involvement in it. The TUC, unions and others, including think tank the IPPR, have been calling for change for years, and there are indications that the coronavirus pandemic has strengthened their case.

Speaking on the BBC’s Andrew Marr show on 5 July NHS chief executive Sir Simon Stevens appeared to accept the case for intervention, especially in the light of experiences during the pandemic.

“If any good is to come from this, in my opinion,” he said, “we must use this as a moment to resolve once and for all to actually properly resource and reform the way in which social care works in this country.

“Today is the 72nd anniversary of the NHS. It is also the 72nd anniversary of the National Assistance Act, which kicked off social care provision. The reality, however, is that after at least two decades of talking about it, we do not have a fair and properly-resourced adult social care system with a proper set of workforce supports.

“If you’ve got a situation where a quarter of your social care staff are on zero hours contracts, where you’ve got one-third churn in employment each year, that is not the preconditions for being able to provide high quality care for our older people.”

https://www.tuc.org.uk/sites/default/files/extras/careandsupport.pdf

https://www.tuc.org.uk/blogs/social-care-system-crisis-heres-how-fix-it

https://www.ippr.org/research/publications/fair-care