YP Letters: Dickensian future may come to haunt Osborne

AT this time of year, I am reminded of Charles Dickens’ story, A Christmas Carol. I see the Chancellor, George Osborne, visited by the ghosts of social care past, present and future.

In the past he sees the care of older and vulnerable adults woefully underfunded for generations, despite endless promises.

In the present he sees fewer and fewer people receiving 
the care they need and 
providers failing through a lack of funding.

His future vision is of care homes closed and people out on the street.

It is hospitals unable to cope with the flow of people needing beds because of a lack of community care. It is a country with no dignity for those in need of help.

But it doesn’t have to be this way. In A Christmas Carol, Scrooge realises the future can be changed: “Best and happiest of all, the time before him was his own, and he could make the best of it.”

If the Government funds social care properly in the long run it will save money on NHS hospital spending and avoid our quite Dickensian nightmare.

Then we’ll all say: “God bless us, every one.”