It will come as no surprise that the issues facing the care sector are getting increasingly worse. The collapse of Four Seasons Health Care into administration was a reminder of the many issues facing both public and private care providers in the UK.
Demand for care services are increasing faster than the ability to supply. Recruitment of staff is an ongoing issue and high levels of turnover.
We await the outcome of the appeal to the Supreme Court in relation to the Mencap sleep-in case. Which if successful, would require care providers to pay six years of back pay, worth in the region of £400 million.
Long awaited is the social care green paper, which has already been delayed six times. The paper will set out the details of care system reforms for adults with disabilities and the elderly.
George McNamara, Director of Policy at Independent Age said:
“Social care has become a crisis of the government’s own making. The government seems content to allow vital care and support for the most vulnerable older people to be rationed or cut, without any recognition that their continuous dithering and delays are increasing older people’s hardship, impacting on their health and, in some cases, costing lives.”
