So Matt Hancock ignored health advice around testing for those going into care homes as ‘it muddies the water’.
Everyone knows that care homes were disproportionately impacted by the pandemic and although this was in relation to community residents at the beginning of the pandemic, let’s not forget, care home providers were backed into a corner and told they had to take patients directly from hospital without testing at the beginning which caused thousands of deaths.
This all happened while care homes were desperately trying to get hold of adequate PPE and testing kits and very little guidance on offer. There was NO protective ring around care homes.
And now, with the social care system still under intense pressure with an unstable provider market, a workforce crisis, and high levels of unmet need, it will continue to fail the people who rely on it.
It is very disappointing that the current government’s social care funding and eligibility reforms – including a ‘cap’ on lifetime care costs and changes to the means test – have now been delayed until October 2025. These planned reforms were the latest of several unsuccessful attempts to bring change to a complex and devolved system which, unlike most of the NHS, is not free at the point of use.
When will we see the continued promises of a strategy to improve the challenges in social care, to expand and support the workforce and give them the same pedestal we continue to place the NHS on?