Labour Conference Leaves Care In The Cold Providers Say

SOCIAL CARE providers say the Labour government’s conference has so far left the care of older and vulnerable adults out in the cold.

They are disappointed at a lack of any promises of social care reform from the Prime Minister and other senior ministers in Liverpool.

“There is no light at the end of the tunnel for adult social care,” said Mike Padgham, chair of the care provider organisation, The Independent Care Group (ICG).

“We have heard promise after promise on many, many different topics, but nothing, once again for social care.

“We have had a promise to cut NHS waiting lists but without reforming and improving social care, that is just a pipe dream.”

Mr Starmer told the conference that his sister is a care worker and that he wants to build a Britain where carers, who do important and “life-affirming” work are afforded the same respect as the Prime Minister.

But Mr Padgham added: “This is very welcome from the Prime Minister, but his rhetoric does not translate into reforming social care, providing more carers to look after our older, vulnerable and disabled people and reforming a sector where there are 131,000 care worker vacancies and where 1.6m people cannot get the care they need.”

At a fringe meeting, Health Secretary Wes Streeting said social care reform was necessary to address the crisis across healthcare. But he warned that reform was more likely to come in the second term of a Labour government.

Mr Padgham added: “How many more times will we be told that social care reform will have to wait? Until the number of people unable to get care has gone from 1.6m to 2m or 3m? Until the number of people unable to leave hospital through a lack of care has hit 15,000 or 20,000?

“And who is to say that Labour will get a second term?

“Promising to reform the NHS and cut waiting lists without tackling the crisis in adult social care is totally pointless – one cannot happen without the other and it needs to happen now, not five or 10 years down the road. You cannot get people out of hospital if there is no care available in the community to look after them. Once again, this conference is leaving social care out in the cold.

“We keep hearing short-term pain for long-term gain – all I can see is longer and longer-term pain, for no gain whatsoever. This might be a shared struggle, but social care is bearing more than its fair share and it is time that stopped.

“It is still early days for the Government, and we have to give them the benefit of the doubt. But we will continue to campaign for social care to get the reform it needs to support older, disabled and vulnerable people and support the NHS.”