One could be forgiven for thinking that with almost five million people in England waiting for hospital treatment and a further 1.1 million men, women and children suffering with long Covid, that social care would merit more attention in the Queen’s speech.
The subject was afforded one solitary line, setting off a cascade of discontent and dismay from industry leaders, care receivers and their families. The government’s lack of a detailed plan for reforming the broken social care system speaks volumes about where its priorities lie. And that is not with solving the funding crisis facing social care.
The government insists that its priority is to “deliver a national recovery from the pandemic that makes the UK stronger, healthier and more prosperous than before”. But to achieve that, it must first accept that the health and wellbeing of a nation’s citizens is critical to a well-functioning economy. From there, it must then create a world-class health and social care system that delivers timely, responsive and preventative healthcare to everyone to help them recover speedily from disease, illness and injury.
Currently, only people in crisis with the highest level of need and the fewest assets receive state-funded social care. To be awarded these threadbare, erratic services, those in need are also required to jump through a myriad of hoops and set their dignity aside in the process. The rest of the adult population must either pay for their care or rely on the goodwill of family and friends, thus putting their loved ones’ financial, mental and physical health in peril.
To be fair, over the last 30 plus years, governments of all persuasions have failed to overhaul social care to render it capable of dealing with the demands of people living longer with disabilities or ill health and a rapidly ageing population. This failure to reform social care so that it is fit for the 21st century could be because this requires a fundamental shift in mindset, from zero sum game to one which embraces and values care and caregiving.
In simple terms, this means accepting that people who are vulnerable, either through disability, illness or old age, and those that care for them, are valuable members of society and not disposable burdens on the tax-payer. It also involves acknowledging, rewarding and supporting family carers – some of whom are children – for saving the UK economy an approximate £132 billion a year; and not leaving them to struggle on their own.
