Social Care Still Ill-Prepared For A Pandemic Campaigners Say

The care of older, vulnerable and disabled adults is no better prepared now for a pandemic like Covid-19 than it was before the virus struck five years ago, social care campaigners warned today.

The Independent Care Group (ICG) says the need for reform – particularly in the recruitment of more staff – is critical if any lessons are to be learned from the pandemic.

The ICG was reacting after the first report from the Covid-19 inquiry concluded that, despite warnings, social care in particular was under-prepared for the impact such a pandemic would have.

And today ICG Chair Mike Padgham warned:
“My worry is that, five years down the line, after so many lives were tragically lost and care workers fought the virus heroically on the front line, we are no better prepared than we were.

“Only this week we heard that social care is understaffed by some 131,000 and that an extra 540,000 social care staff will be needed by 2040 to cope with rising demand.

“That doesn’t speak to me of a sector that is ready for anything the world can throw at it – it says exactly the opposite. We are as vulnerable now as we were in 2019.”

The ICG is calling on the Government to introduce emergency measures – including extra funding for the sector to urgently recruit staff – before it embarks upon a Royal Commission on social care reform.

“If we are to have a Royal Commission then so be it, but for heaven’s sake put a strict timetable on it, Mr Padgham added. “The last one, in 1997, took two years to report back and was then ignored.

“And in the meantime, we call on the Government to switch funding into social care from the NHS, so that we can recruit the people we need. We need to take bold, urgent action to get social care back into a strong, robust condition that could withstand something like covid – at the moment we are anything but.”