Mike Padgham: We need a manifesto of care to give our older generations the help they deserve

We need a fully costed, funded and sustainable strategy for providing

high quality care to people who need it, including provision for the

increasing number of people living with dementia.

In common with the rest of the country, Yorkshire's population is

getting older and more and more people need care, either in their own home or in the special environment of a care home.

In 1982, 30 per cent of people in the UK were over 50, in 2009 it was 34 per cent and by 2026 it will be 40 per cent. In 30 years, the number of people with dementia will double to 1.4 million.

And yet across the country the availability of care can vary

dramatically, depending on which local authority area you live in. Some

74 per cent of local authorities can only fund care for people with substantial or critical care need. This postcode lottery of care shames a country that should be giving its older and vulnerable people the care and dignity they deserve.

Care in this country is chronically under-funded, with local authorities and health trusts starved of the funding they need to be able to offer adequate provision of care to their residents.

Social care suffers when spending cuts are made and this is surely morally wrong. So what could be done to improve things?

To begin with we need to take an altogether different view of the way we treat social care. At the moment it is something of a Cinderella sector, compared to big Government priorities like health and education. Because of this approach the funding of social care is prone to being cut when spending priorities are being decided. This is wholly unfair to a sector in which millions of hours of professional, expert care is delivered by a dedicated workforce.

Ring-fencing funding for social care would be a good start in protecting this vital investment in people. A good way to ensure this happens and to raise the profile of the sector at the same time would be to give social care its own Secretary of State at the heart of government – a clear demonstration by any administration that they were treating the issue seriously.

Greater Cabinet input may end the bureaucratic nightmare that sees

the health service administered centrally and social care administered locally. The two need to work together so we have either health and social care administered locally or centrally. In the short term there must at least be an integrated social care budget to avoid the two bodies passing responsibility back and forth.

A Secretary of State might also tackle another bureaucratic issue that dogs the sector: over-regulation. At the moment the sector is checked and regulated by the national Care Quality Commission and, increasingly now, local authority contract monitoring units. Both, it could be argued, are essentially performing the same task and by duplicating effort, wasting taxpayers' money.

The funding issue is the key one and any hypothetical Secretary of State taking up his or her post would need to tackle that immediately.

For instance, there could be recognition that dementia is a medical problem and that the cost of caring for sufferers should be covered by the NHS. A way of applying the current method of funding GPs could be looked at in the social care provider sector, a possibility worth investigating.

A better way of rewarding front-line social care staff – in line with their counterparts in other areas of health care – would help the industry to recruit, train and retain a good workforce able to deliver the type of quality care that successive Governments have called for. And the removal of VAT, either temporarily or permanently, from

what social care providers purchase might help to stimulate the growth in the sector that will also be needed to cope with rising demand.

That would go some way to relieving the pressure on fee levels. An inability to reclaim VAT, which some businesses can do, penalises the care sector.

On a local level, it would be nice to see the value of social care to the Yorkshire economy recognised more. The sector is a big employer and as a growing industry should be supported. Some recognition of this value by Yorkshire Forward, for example, would be welcome.

It would also be good to see the independent care sector – which provides over 80 per cent of social care – represented on the Strategic Health Authorities, primary care and health trusts along with a greater recognition of the major input independent providers can offer the future development of the sector.

As the current party of Government, Labour has begun to set out its actions towards a National Care Service, though at the moment

it lacks real answers as to how it might be funded.

We need to see clearly how the other parties propose to provide

proper care for an increasing percentage of our population. And beyond that we need to see cross-party agreement so that care is not a political football but a basic right for everyone in a civilised society and above petty political squabbling.

As we approach the General Election, instead of manifestos for change or growth or whatever else, we need to see a manifesto for care

and that is what the people of Yorkshire should be seeking from the candidates when they come knocking on their door.

LABOUR POLICY

Labour has dismissed the possibility of a "flat rate" levy to pay for elderly care but said it is considering a compulsory arrangement. It wants to create a free national care service for elderly people but it would not be in operation until after 2015, as a cross-party National Care Commission will first examine how people will pay for it.

CONSERVATIVE POLICY

The Conservatives have proposed a voluntary 8,000 one-off premium at 65 to guarantee free care. A row between Labour and the Conservatives in the spring saw Andrew Lansley, the shadow Health Secretary, refuse to take part in a conference called by Ministers and involving charities, local authorities and care providers.

LIB-DEM POLICE

Norman Lamb, the Liberal Democrat health spokesman, went to the conference missed by the Tories. His party has published a draft statement of principles of social care, drawn up after earlier cross-party talks. It proposes a commission, to report within a year, to agree a reform package which would be "sustainable in the long term".

Mike Padgham is chair of the Independent Care Group for York and North Yorkshire