England’s failing social care system is a humanitarian crisis we can no longer ignore
CEO of the British Red Cross, Mike Adamson, urges the Government "to use its forthcoming Autumn Statement to finally give social care the funding priority it deserves."
Social care cuts have once again been making headlines ahead of this week’s Autumn Statement. At a recent parliamentary debate, MPs from all parties expressed serious concern about the failings of our social care system. From rushed carer visits because there are too many people to see and delayed hospital discharges because there is no appropriate support in the community to an increase in social care providers returning contracts because they are not being paid enough to do the job properly.
There is no doubt our care and support system is in crisis. Cuts to funding over the last five years amount to £4.6 million; one million older people now have unmet needs for care and support, and half a million fewer people are receiving care than ten years ago.
What do these shocking figures mean in reality? It means some people haven’t taken their vital medicine, been washed or changed because there is no carer there to help them. It means people might fall and not be found for days. It means people are left with nobody to change their urinary catheter. It means family members, sometimes not healthy themselves, struggle to help their partner or parent eat, wash, go to the toilet, take their medicine and get to vital appointments. This is forcing more and more people into crisis and causing unnecessary suffering.
We help more than 80,000 people a year through our 160 hospital and community services across the UK. We are now finding ourselves being called out to help people in this shocking situation who have nowhere else to turn. British Red Cross staff and volunteers have seen these unthinkable situations first hand. This is a humanitarian crisis we can no longer ignore.
But we do believe there is a solution. It is now widely recognised that “prevention is better than cure”. In 2014 the ambition to shift towards a truly preventative system was enshrined in law via Section 2 of the Care Act. Prevention is also a key component of the NHS Five Year Forward View. Pockets of excellent transformation are taking place across the country.
These initiatives show a real willingness to change the way the system works. Yet, with overstretched funds, local authorities are struggling to meet their statutory duties let alone go above and beyond and invest in services that prevent, reduce and delay.
Earlier this year, British Red Cross research found the Care Act’s vision for prevention is not being fully realised. Others have reported the same outcome for the NHS Five Year Forward View. In fact, local authority spend on prevention has reduced since these initiatives have come into force. Despite identifying increased prevention and early intervention as the top area for saving, councils have made it clear that there are practical difficulties in shifting resources away from crisis intervention to prevention, given the current economic climate.
That is why, as part of the Care and Support Alliance, an alliance of over 80 of Britain’s leading charities, we are urging the Government to use its forthcoming Autumn Statement to finally give social care the funding priority it deserves. This means immediate funding to stabilise the current system and real steps towards creating a sustainable funding settlement for the future.
Without this two-fold approach, initiatives such as the Care Act and NHS Five Year Forward View will continue to be mere ambitions. And this vicious cycle of an overstretched and continuously underfunded system will persist.
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