IRRV Alert - week ending 19th February 2021
News
Circulars
Consultations
Reports
Government must act now to find ‘genuine long-term solution’ to social care crisis (17 February 2021)
Government must act now to find ‘genuine long-term solution’ to social care crisis
17 February 2021
Health and Social Care Committee Chair Jeremy Hunt has pressed the Government for detail on plans to reform social care, calling for a genuine long-term solution after many ‘false dawns’.
He expressed particular disappointment that Ministers had failed to address key recommendations made in the Committee’s Social care: funding and workforce report that called on the Government to:
- Increase investment in social care by £7bn per year by 2023/24
- Bring forward a plan to streamline the training of social care workers
- Urgently tackle the problems in the care sector as a priority
Rt Hon Jeremy Hunt MP Chair of the Health and Social Care Committee said:
"It is very disappointing that the Government has failed to engage with our call to commit to increasing investment in social care by £7billion a year by the final year of the parliament. This is the starting point for wider reforms and we repeat our warning that doing nothing is no longer an option.
Despite promises, Ministers appear to have made no progress towards a genuine long-term solution to this crisis. Resolving it must be set as a priority. An intention to announce plans ‘this year’ rings hollow in the absence of detail on process or timescale and the failure to address this alongside NHS reform.
The pandemic has shone its cruel light on failings in our social care system so it really is now or never for reform. I look forward to discussing what progress to expect with the Social Care Minister when she appears before the Committee next week.”