Care England Welcome Call For Free PPE For All

Care England, the largest representative body for independent providers of adult social care, has welcomed calls from the Relatives and Residents Association for free PPE for the adult social care sector as a raison d’etre of public health.

Professor Martin Green OBE, Chief Executive of Care England, says:

“Public health protection for care services must come out of the public purse, in the same way as other communicable disease prevention measures. Procuring and delivering sufficient PPE to the front line is critical to future management of this pandemic”.

Public Protection – Who Pays? is available via the Relatives and Residents Association https://www.relres.org/ The report makes it clear that we need a renewed, better organised and effective public health response in preparation for a second wave, with centralised purchasing of PPE managed by local public health agencies to ensure effective distribution.

Care England will be publishing a report this morning on care homes; second wave and beyond. Rt Hon Stephen Dorrell will be guest of honour at a webinar to launch the report.

Judy Downey, Chair of Relatives and Residents, says:“The care sector cannot continue to be treated as collateral damage or its staff and services as second class citizens. Government agencies still appear unaware both of the role and scale of the care sector with at least three times the number of beds, a workforce larger than the NHS and an intrinsically at risk population. We have paid and are paying a high price for this ignorance”.