PARLIAMENTARY ROUND UP

Social Care tops the political agenda in March

by Kit Hawkins, PLMR
The provision of social care has been a controversial topic for many years in Britain and this past month of March has seen the topic in the spotlight once again. Not only was the Care Bill debated in Parliament for the final time, but the Sir John Oldham Report on whole person care has also been published and the Kingsmill Review is calling for evidence about the future of care workers. The Care Bill is part of the Governments commitment to reforming social care legislation, following the recommendations of the Dilnot review. The Care Bill will introduce a 72,000 cap on the costs that people will have to pay for care, bring in better safe-guarding for service users, and aims to increase transparency and equality for customers. Secretary of Health Jeremy Hunt explained the reason for the bill, stating: We need new laws that reflect modern standards, modern expectations and modern practices. Part of these modern standards will be monitored by a new Ofsted-style ratings system for hospitals and care homes, allowing prospective service users to compare care homes and hospitals in a balanced way so as to make the best choice for their individual needs. Not to be outdone by the Government on the reforming of health and social care, the Labour-commissioned report on whole person care was published this past month. Chaired by former GP sir John Oldham, the report recommends integration of health and social care as the solution to the problems within both sectors, highlighting how much the needs of our ageing population have changed, with 70% of costs in the sector being incurred from patients who have several conditions and straddle organisational boundaries. The Report comments; The health and social care needs of the population have changed rapidly and are continuing to change.The increasingly fragmented health and social care system has not changed at the same pace and so is increasingly unable to serve the needs of the population. Care needs to be attuned more to the needs of people, particularly older people who are by far the heaviest user of services. Most older people are more interested in independence than length of life, and ironically an admission to hospital that could be managed in the community may be the event that ends their independence. Care needs to be better coordinated around the whole of a persons needs. The report focuses on the need for local community care to take the burden of care off NHS inpatient wards, which are far more expensive and give the patient a lower quality of life than they would experience in domiciliary or residential care. Sir John is adamant that integration is achievable and that no major restructuring is necessary, commenting that; 'The last thing the health and care system wants is another imposed massive change.' To make integration possible however, greater funding must be provided to Local Authorities so as to be able to provide care in the community to a sufficiently high quality. To achieve high quality care, the people who provide the care are crucial. This is what has been championed by many in the care sector and politicians have taken heed. Indeed, the Kingsmill Review, commissioned by Ed Miliband, has this month called for evidence from businesses, employees, trade unions, Local Authorities, think tanks, and charities to investigate poor working conditions in the Care Sector and the impact on quality of care which low pay and zero-hour contracts have. Between 150,000 and 220,000 care workers are paid less than the National Minimum Wage (NMW), and an estimated 300,000 care workers are on zero-hours contracts, out of a total workforce of 700,000. It remains to be seen whether the recently announced rise in NMW, to be introduced in October, will have a significant effect on care workers and providers. With local elections in May fast approaching it will be interesting to see how Councils deal with limited resources but an increasing demand for social care. What this past month tells us, with the Care Bill, Report on Whole Person Care, and Kingsmill Review all garnering a great deal of attention, is that social care is very much on the political agenda and may be crucial in the 2015 general election.

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