Essential we succeed with reform of care for elderly

No problem facing the country is as urgently in need of resolution as the future method of providing for social care for the elderly and the disabled. The sheer complexity of the subject, a growing elderly population, spiralling costs, and the striking of the right balance between the responsibility of the State and the amount of the burden that the individual should assume, defeated the previous Labour government, which made promises to reform the system but signally failed to do so. At the same time, evidence of inadequate treatment, even neglect and abuse, has increased, suggesting a system under strain. Recently, almost half of doctors and one third of nurses said they had witnessed a patient with a learning disability being treated ‘with neglect or a lack of dignity’. The Patients’ Association published a report in August 2009 documenting 16 cases of unacceptable patient care at the end of life which may have affected up to 1 million people. In my constituency surgeries, I hear with troubling frequency of the concerns of families for their relatives in care.

In July 2010, the Coalition Government set up the Dilnot Commission to examine the future funding of care and support. The main recommendations of its report included capping the lifetime contribution to adult social care costs that any individual needs to make at between £25,000 and £50,000. Means-tested support should continue for those of lower means, and the asset threshold for those in residential care, beyond which no means tested help is given, should increase from £23,250 to £100,000. The Government is considering those recommendations and will publish a white paper in the spring. In the meantime, it has ring-fenced social care funding to provide a stable financial base over this Parliament. It will provide additional funding of £2 billion a year to 2014-15: £1 billion ring-fenced through the NHS and £1 billion in grant funding to local government. This settlement gives councils a platform for reform and improvement, including redesign of services. At the same time, the Government will allow carers to use their own personal budgets to spend on taking a break from their caring responsibility – whether to pursue a hobby, take a holiday or have some time to themselves. The Government is making £400 million available through the NHS over the next four years to support carers’ breaks. Finally, we have announced plans for the creation of local HealthWatch organisations to hold services to account. When there are local reports of poor care of elderly people, the local HealthWatch will be able to refer the NHS Hospital to the Care Quality Commission for inspection and the use of its enforcement powers if poor standards of care are found. These are interim measures. If a society is to be judged at least partly on the manner in which it treats its elderly and vulnerable, it is essential that this Coalition Government should succeed where previous governments have failed in providing for a stable and lasting solution to a problem that affects us all.