The Independent Care Group has written an open letter to the Prime Minister, urging him to end the scandal of 1.6m older, vulnerable and disabled people being forced to live without the care they need.
ICG Chair Mike Padgham said: “Enough is enough. Too many people are living without the care they need to enjoy a decent quality of life and that is a scandal that shames us as a country.
“It is time that the new Government acknowledged that there is a problem and showed that they intend to do something about it.”
In his letter to the Prime Minister, Mr Padgham invites Sir Keir Starmer and his health and social care team to sit down with social care providers and seek solutions to the current crisis.
And he urges the Prime Minister to spare the sector further cuts in the much-feared October budget but instead be as bold in his reform of social care as Nye Bevan was when he set up the NHS, in 1948.
In the letter, Mr Padgham writes: “Without proper support for social care and the creation of a sector that can offer care, when and where it is needed, the NHS will stay on its knees.
“There are 1.6m people who cannot get the care they need and many thousands in hospital because there is no social care available for them. This is our mothers and fathers, our aunts and uncles, brothers, sisters and friends. This is a scandal that shames us as a country. For too long those who benefit from social care and those who provide it have waited patiently in the queue for our turn, but that turn never comes.
“We must switch resources from the NHS into social care to pay staff properly and fill the 131,000 staff vacancies to give care to those who can’t access it and to free up hospital beds. This would eventually save the NHS money.”
Mr Padgham says the social care sector was disappointed that Labour went back on a pre-election promise to introduce the cap on social care costs but was still prepared to give the new administration the benefit of the doubt, provided it showed some signs of introducing reform.
In a recent speech, Mr Starmer said the country had to face some short-term pain for long term good, but in his letter Mr Padgham adds: “…social care has suffered long term pain with no sign of any good. The sector has suffered 30 years of cuts with the result that it is now in crisis. People clapped for social care workers as they fought alongside their NHS counterparts to contain Covid-19. But where is their reward for doing that, for not going on strike when others did and for looking after our most vulnerable?”
Mr Padgham says social care providers are eager to discuss solutions with the Government, adding: “We know government alone cannot solve all the issues. The social care sector has a wealth of knowledge, experience and practical solutions to put at the government’s disposal and stands ready to offer support. You have shown with your appointment of James Timpson to the post of prisons minister that you can take a creative approach to finding solutions. I suggest you look at something similar for social care and begin change swiftly to restore confidence.”