Leader of the Liberal Democrats, Ed Davey, has addressed the need for government to prioritise the problems in social care. Speaking at the LGA (Local Government Association) Conference in Bournemouth last week, he described the NHS and social care as inextricably linked, and said it is not possible to fix the crisis in the NHS without fixing social care.
The problems in social care mean that only two in five people are able to leave hospital when they are ready to do so. Such bed-blocking causes problems in patient flow throughout the hospital, contributing to longer queues in A&E departments and patients waiting longer for care.
Ed Davey outlined funding and the multi-billion black hole in local authority budgets as one of the most significant problems, and the lack of staff as the other. Adult social care has 165,000 vacancies across England, meaning more than one in ten frontline care jobs are unfilled.
Recruiting more carers is essential, but this is not achievable whilst carers earn less than the lowest-paid jobs in supermarkets and call centres. When travelling time between patients is factored-in, many don’t even earn the minimum wage. In addition, the work is denigrated as unskilled.
Ed Davey called for a new Carers’ Minimum Wage, which would be set at £2 per hour above the national minimum wage, together with funding from the government to local authorities to cover the extra cost.
Earlier this month healthcare leaders and unions also reiterated the need for a social care workforce plan when the long-awaited NHS Long Term Workforce Plan was published.
