Social Care in England: Older People

Baroness Watkins of Tavistock Excerpts

Monday 20th March 2017 Lords Chamber

[Lord O'Shaughnessy]

On care homes, it is true that some care providers are exiting the system. However, there is the same number of beds and, indeed, there are more nursing homes. So there is churn in the system and there are more home care agencies than there were in 2010. I say that only to point out that it is a changing picture. On carers, she is quite right: this is a long overdue strategy and it will be published shortly.

[Baroness Watkins of Tavistock (CB)]

My Lords, will the Minister explain why the number of mental health and community nurses in England fell between 2010-11 and 2015-16 by 13% to 33,000, as is clearly outlined in the Age UK report? Further, could he explain the recent significant cut in funding at HEE for post-qualifying nurse education, which includes the preparation of district nurses and advanced mental health nurse practitioners? If more people are to be cared for at home, the false separation between social and health care must be acknowledged, particularly if you want to achieve some of what is outlined in the STPs, which we are going to talk about later.

[Lord O'Shaughnessy]

Changes are going on in the nursing workforce and the noble Baroness is right about the cases she points out. It is also worth pointing out that there has been an increase in the number of nurses with general qualifications who are able to work across both health and care, which is important for integration. She will know that there have been changes in the way nursing training has been funded, both in the way she said and in bursaries. However, we are committed to increasing the number of training places available for nurses.