Covid-19: Social Care Services

Baroness Pitkeathley Excerpts

Thursday 23rd April 2020 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Pitkeathley (Lab)]

My Lords, as my noble friend Lady Wheeler indicated in her powerful opening speech, there are many shocking statistics about the care sector when it comes to delays. Like others, I was duly shocked—but in all conscience I cannot say I was surprised. When has the care sector ever been at the forefront of the news? When has it ever been top of anyone’s agenda? How many years did it take for the Department of Health to change its name to the Department of Health and Social Care?

The notion that the social care sector is somehow second class probably goes back as far as 1948 and the founding of the NHS. Back then, men died at 66 and women at 69, so why bother setting up a fail-safe care system when it would not be needed? We reckoned without the wonderful success of the NHS in extending our lives so that we see not only our monarch, but many of our most successful fundraisers, playing important roles well into their 90s.

The Government’s recent bailout plan is extremely welcome, and much needed as local authorities are pushed into insolvency by the extra demands of this crisis. At best, though, the £1 billion

“buys us a month or two”,

as one council leader said. It is now more than four years since the CQC told us that the social care sector was at “a tipping point”. If that was the case in 2016, how much more is it the case now?

We must always remember too, when we celebrate caring, the contribution of the unpaid army of at least 6.5 million family carers—rising, we think, to more than 8 million according to the latest statistics. These families and friends are holding the social care system together by providing support for the most vulnerable in society, saving billions of pounds for all of us—the cost of another complete National Health Service. Many carers were at breaking point before, and the current crisis has further exacerbated their situation. Many now say that they are sick with worry. We are asking more of these carers than ever before and they too urgently need to be supported and recognised. They need to know how to keep themselves and the person they care for safe. Many are worried that the care workers who previously supported them are bringing the virus in, so they are doing more themselves.

Many services that previously supported carers are now closed—day centres for example. Even before the virus, 40% of carers providing substantial care had not had a day’s break in more than a year, so there was already considerable unmet need. We should be concerned at the local authority and charity sectors being under such pressure. As we have heard, there is a worry that these services may never be resumed. Some carers are even finding it difficult to get food and supplies. Not all supermarkets class them as vulnerable and not all carers are as tech-savvy as we are all learning to be. When someone needs care 24/7, it is hard to find the time to learn a new skill, even if you can afford to buy a computer.

Carers UK has conducted research with carers, looking at their experiences of Covid-19. It had a large response in a very short period. If I send the Minister a copy as soon as it is published, will he undertake to provide me with the Government’s response to the issues the research raises?

It is clear that, coming out of the pandemic, we will need to have short-term funding for care to stabilise the system, but beyond that we must finally commit to a bold solution for the future funding of social care. Many of us have been calling for a such a commitment for many years. Do we dare hope that a positive outcome to what we are now experiencing will be that we finally get such a commitment?