Britain has a social care crisis. Here’s how Labor wants to solve the problem | Wes Straating
TThree sentences in Labour’s 1945 manifesto contained a simple but historic promise: “The best health care services should be available free to all. Money can no longer be the passport to the best treatment. In the new National Health Service there should be health centers where people can get the best that modern science has to offer, more and better hospitals and good conditions for our doctors and nurses.”
In the three years following Labour’s election victory, Nye Bevan fought off opposition from the Conservatives, the British Medical Association and some within his own cabinet to establish the NHS. For 76 years the country has provided free healthcare when it was needed, through both Labor and Conservative governments.
The idea was inspired by the Beveridge Report, which identified five giants of laziness, ignorance, disease, misery and want. If the report were written today, William Beveridge would certainly add a sixth: healthcare needs. The social care system in this country is failing. Despite an aging population, access to state-funded adult social care has fallen, and the number of older people receiving state-funded care in England has fallen. decreased by 10% since 2014-2015.
This puts enormous pressure on the NHS. In November, more than 12,400 hospital patients per day were healthy enough to leave, but had to stay overnight. One in three of these delays was due to the unavailability of care in the community. There is no solution to the crisis in the NHS that does not include a solution for social care.
By 2050, there will be four million more people aged 65 and over in England than there are now. If we do nothing, the real social care costs will remain expected to almost double by 2038, compared to 2018 figures. Many more people will go without the care they need, the burden will fall on the health service and our NHS will be overwhelmed. We cannot continue to pay an increasingly heavy price for failure. Our NHS cannot afford to continue to carry a heavier burden. We cannot afford not to take action.
Labor was heavily criticized during the general election campaign for not setting out our plans for a National Care Service in more detail. I was honest about why: a general election campaign will see social care plans die. When Andy Burnham launched cross-party talks on social care in 2009, David Cameron backed down and leaked details of the talks to attack Labor in the election campaign. In 2017, it was Labor that torpedoed Theresa May’s proposals. Then Rishi Sunak cut Boris Johnson’s funding limiting healthcare costs.
Over the past fifteen years there have been plenty of good ideas about how to tackle this crisis, but good politics have been lacking. This government wants to do politics differently. Today I am announcing an independent commission to build a National Care Service. The committee will publish its interim report next year and finalize it by the end of parliament. Previous reviews on various aspects of social care, including Andrew Dilnot’s work on healthcare costs, will be included in the committee. It’s fair to say it won’t start all over again.
I am very pleased that Louise Casey has agreed to chair the committee. She has served under Labour, Conservative and coalition governments. She is a trusted, independent figure, who will engage all political parties and the public in the process of building a national consensus on what our country wants from social care, and how a National Care Service can best meet our needs.
She and I have already worked together on immediate action we can take today to improve social care. In addition to the commission, the government is also announcing an increase in subsidy funding for disability services for the period 2024-2025. This results in approximately 7,800 additional home adjustments, so that people with disabilities can continue to live safely and independently in their own home.
We’re publishing new national standards to help people who use care, along with their families and caregivers, get the latest, most effective assistive technology. We integrate NHS and social care better, with the NHS and local government sharing funding and working together to keep people out of hospital, which is better for patients and cheaper for the taxpayer. We provide guidance and support to help healthcare providers carry out routine checks while caring for people, including blood pressure checks. We also merge healthcare and medical records so that NHS and healthcare staff get the full picture they need to provide the best possible care to patients.
For healthcare workers, this means taking on new skills and taking on senior roles as part of our steps to professionalise the workforce. As Keir Starmer said at the Labor conference, his sister should command the same respect for her role as aid worker as he does for his role as prime minister.
In addition to this action plan, we have legislated for fair pay deals to help fill the 131,000 vacancies in social care. Us too saw an increase of £2,300 in the informal care allowance for informal caregivers, and have made extra resources available in the budget for social care. We’ve done a lot in six months, but there’s still a lot more to do, and the best is yet to come.
It will take time, but Casey’s work will finally get this nettle under control and put our country on the path to building a National Healthcare Service that meets the urgent needs of our generation, guarantees quality care to all who need it, and will continue to exist far into the future. .