HCT Follow-up meeting

A coalition to defend #ourNHS

Follow-up meeting

Thursday December 13, 13.30 – 16.00 at Carr’s Lane Conference Centre Birmingham, B4 7SX

Please let us know if you will be attending, by emailing reclaimsocialcare @gmail.com

 

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Jan Shortt, NPC General Secretary

Gill Ogilvie, GMB regional organiser

Reclaim Social Care Conference Nov 17, Birmingham

Speakers included

  • Health Campaigns Together editor John Lister,
  • Eleanor Smith MP who has put forward the NHS Reinstatement Bill aimed at preserving the future of the NHS,

and campaigners from

  • the Relatives and Residents Association,
  • North West UNISON Dignity in Care Campaign,
  • “Being the Boss” / Reclaim our Futures,
  • National Pensioners Convention
  • and the Centre for Welfare Reform,

as well as Prof Peter Beresford of Essex University and Gill Ogilvie, a GMB official who has led campaigns for children’s services.

Conor McGurran of NW Region UNISON

Simon Duffy (behind him Prof Peter
Beresford and chair Ann Bannister)

Between them they outlined some of the complexity and the varied interest groups affected by the crisis in social care, spelled out some outlines of policies and objectives that should be the basis for campaigning, and agreed on the need to combat the current dysfunctional and unfair system, while challenging any further cutbacks or privatisation.

It was clear from the conference that there is a common basis for a campaign for a publicly funded and provided social care service that respects the individual needs and capacities of all citizens.

The social care service we want would deliver support as required on the basis of needs and choices, giving a voice to service users, and with services delivered to all without means tested charges and funded nationally from general taxation.

There was also support for public control and ownership of most services, to end the scandal of public money flowing to tax dodging corporations and cheapskate, exploitative home care companies; and proper status, pay, terms and conditions for all care staff, including training where required and a career structure.

We will be posting video and extracts from speeches, but in the meantime please see:

 

The Debate over Social Care

The worsening plight of social care and the financial problems posed for local government have been unveiled by a new National Audit Office Report, available HERE. But how can the problems be addressed, and how far can social care be integrated with the NHS as part of a longer term development?

These are complex questions. Professor Bob Hudson’s BLOG is a basis of discussion, and while many campaigners will share some of these views, many will differ on his conclusions. The debate is an important one in shaping the policy of any future government to replace the Tories, so we invite campaigners to respond and develop this discussion, offer us your thoughts and suggestions, and help us develop a parallel campaign for properly funded and publicly accountable social care in parallel with the fight to defend, reinstate and fully fund our NHS.

Send any contributions (or suggested links and other material) to us at hcteditorial@gmail.com.

FEATURED BLOG

 

Response

 

Links to other articles and analysis on social care:

 

 

  • Hundreds of care home patients have died dehydrated or malnourished – Guardian report based on official figures:
    “More than 1,000 care home patients have died suffering from malnutrition, dehydration or bedsores, new figures reveal.
    “At least one of the conditions was noted on the death certificates of as many as 1,463 vulnerable residents in NHS, local authority and privately-run care homes in England and Wales over the past five years..
    “The figures have been obtained by the Guardian from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), which completed an analysis of death certificates at the newspaper’s request.
    “It follows a separate Guardian investigation that revealed some of the country’s worst care homes were owned by companies that made a total profit of £113m despite poor levels of care.”

 

  • Fair care: A workforce strategy for social care – New IPPR report on the social care system argues that says nearly half of the 1.3million people working in the care sector are earning less that the real living wage of £9 an hour, with one in four (325,000 people) on a zero-hours contracts.
    It warns that unless pay and conditions are improved there could be a shortage of 400,000 care workers by 2028.
    Nearly two-thirds of home care workers are only paid for contact time and not for travel between the homes of people they care for.
    One in three carers said they often don’t have enough time to prepare a meal or help with washing and bathing, while a staggering 89 per cent said that they don’t get enough time even to have a chat with clients.

 

 

 

 

 

 

  • Beyond barriers How older people move between health and social care in England – Another reminder of how far the current health and care system is from any real “integration”. Following comprehensive reviews of 20 local authority areas, the CQC has called for a new approach to the way the country runs health and care services.
    The ‘Breaking Barriers’ report followed people’s journeys through the health and social care system and identified gaps where people experienced poor or fragmented care, with findings showing “the urgent necessity for real change.”

 

 

 

 

  • A fork in the road: Next steps for social care funding reform – A joint report between the Health Foundation and the Kings Fund, which highlights low public awareness of social care and a lack of agreement on priorities for reform as major barriers to progress, despite apparent political consensus on the need for urgent action.
    It argues that reforming the current system will be expensive, but states that if reform is chosen, England is now at a clear ‘fork in the road’ with a choice between “a better means-tested system” and one that is “more like the NHS” — free at the point of use for those who need it.

 

 

 

 

 

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