NHS Continuing Healthcare
Debate between Lord Dubs and Baroness Merron(2 months, 2 weeks ago)
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Baroness Merron (Lab)
I am pleased to take this opportunity to give great recognition to the role that unpaid carers play; they are absolutely crucial to ensuring that people get the care they need, either directly or perhaps by being advocates. I also thank the noble Lord for his kind comments. While unpaid carers are very busy looking after those they care for, they need to be able to look after themselves and their own health needs. We will apply ourselves to this issue.
Lord Dubs (Lab)
My Lords, I declare an interest, in that a member of my family gets social care and has been trying to get continuing healthcare, without success. When people live in a local authority area where social care support is inadequate, the temptation is always to apply under the NHS. Is that not the problem? It simply puts more of a burden on those doing the assessments. Can this be resolved?
Baroness Merron (Lab)
I hope it can be. When we look at continuing healthcare and the assessment and service it provides, we will certainly take it on board.