Boris Johnson has kicked the can down the road on our social care crisis: Yorkshire Post Letters

Social care campaigners are still waiting for the Government to publish its reforms to the sector.Social care campaigners are still waiting for the Government to publish its reforms to the sector.
Social care campaigners are still waiting for the Government to publish its reforms to the sector.
From: Mike Padgham, The Independent Care Group, Scarborough.

BY THE looks of it, the Queen’s Speech was disappointing for social care. All we heard once again was a promise that proposals will be brought forward to reform social care to ensure dignity in old age.

Isn’t that what we have been told now for years, as the social care Green Paper got kicked further and further down the road? We have had too many promises from government after government in the past and we need to have some concrete action.

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Boris Johnson  has so far failed to publish long-overdue social care reforms.Boris Johnson  has so far failed to publish long-overdue social care reforms.
Boris Johnson has so far failed to publish long-overdue social care reforms.

We deserve to have proper legislation set out for social care, as Boris Johnson promised when he was made Prime Minister, when he said he would solve social care once and for all.

A general election is almost certainly on the horizon and we need to hear proper proposals for social care now so that we can hold the political parties to account on delivering them.

As for the State of Care report from the Care Quality Commission, it, too, reveals a social care sector that is fragile and in need of help.

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The CQC says it has twice had to exercise its duty to notify local authorities that there was a risk of service disruption because of provider business failure – the first time it has done that since it introduced a market oversight scheme four years ago.

Boris Johnson had a flu jab in 10 Downing Street before the State Opening of Parliament.Boris Johnson had a flu jab in 10 Downing Street before the State Opening of Parliament.
Boris Johnson had a flu jab in 10 Downing Street before the State Opening of Parliament.

That is a very serious state of affairs, especially for those vulnerable people who are being cared for. It shows a social care sector on the brink and in need of urgent help.

But that help looks as far off as ever, with only a promise of proposals to come in the Queen’s Speech, rather than formal legislation. This Government, or the next one after a general election, will have to grasp the nettle or the number of people currently living without the care they need will continue to grow. And that is a scandal.

From: Dr Chaand Nagpaul, BMA Council chair.

THE NHS is understaffed and underfunded, with doctors and their colleagues fighting a daily battle to guarantee safe, high-quality care in the face of rocketing demand.

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While the Government has set out its ambitions, the NHS requires immediate, decisive, action. This means a rapid increase in investment, the end of punitive pension rules that penalise doctors for going to work and introducing legislation to create clear lines of accountability for safe staffing. With Brexit dominating, politicians must not sight of the immediate pressures facing our NHS as we head into what could be its worst winter yet.

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