UK's largest charity care provider launches new campaign to #FixCareForAll

MHA which runs 90 care homes in the UK has launched a #FixCareForAll campaign, saying it has carried out research showing two-thirds of people want social care to be a top priority for the government.

The #FixCareForAll campaign comes after a survey, commissioned by MHA, where they polled over 2,000 adults and found over two thirds (69 per cent) said social care should be a top priority for the government and 43 per cent believe the government does not care about the needs of older people.

MHA chief executive Sam Monaghan, who was very vocal during the pandemic about the government's failure to provide enough PPE to care staff during the first lockdown, said: “Our research clearly shows the public now sees social care as a top priority for the country, and this should be a key part of the government’s ‘building back better’ agenda.

“For far too long older people and their needs have been neglected by successive governments of all political persuasions and the time has come to finally fix care for all.

“Over the last 20 years the adult social care sector has borne the brunt of many broken promises. There have been green papers, white papers, commissions, reviews, yet still the system remains broken.”

Care homes were severely hit by the pandemic and the effects of Covid-19 follow years of proposals and broken promises to reform the sector by successive governments.

In 2019, on the steps of Downing Street, Boris Johnson promised that he would ‘fix the social care crisis once and for all’ and has since promised to ‘fix the injustice of care home funding’.

Despite a manifesto pledge to fix the problem, measures to address social care funding were left out of the Queen’s Speech to the House of Lords.

Last weekend, Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove said a social reform plan will be "heading for the statute books" by the end of the year.

In a bid to push the government into action, MHA has issued a 5-point plan

1. A new social care system must be fully resourced with a fair price for care

2. A national workforce strategy that values our people

3. Transparency and accountability, delivered through financial regulation

4. Care which is co-produced and co-designed with older people and the sector

5. Seamless pathways and collaboration between health and social care

"What we now need is decisive action from government,” says Mr Monaghan. “We need to make sure care is properly resourced, we value our care workers, people have a say in their care, funding is transparent and accountable and delivered through financial regulation, and there is a seamless pathway with health services.

“The time for talking is over. Ageing isn’t an abstract concept, it’s something which we will all have to face one day so it’s in all our interests to get this right going forward. We need a clear plan to support the future funding and framework to support older people. We have a growing population of older people who deserve respect and certainty for their future.”

’The pandemic has exposed the deep-rooted cracks in our failing social care system’

Fiona Carragher, director of research and influencing at Alzheimer’s Society, is backing #FixCareForAll. She said: “The pandemic has exposed the deep-rooted cracks in our failing social care system, demonstrating the desperate need for urgent reform. Never again must the 850,000 people with dementia in the UK and their loved ones face such hardship and loss, like they’ve experienced over the past year.

“Even now, some care homes are still lacking resource to facilitate or increase visits, meaning families are only seeing their loved one in care for a fleeting half an hour every few weeks.

“Now more than ever, the government must bring forward their long-awaited plan to completely overhaul our social care system; this should provide free, personalised care and put it on an equal footing with the NHS. It’s also vital that proposals support and develop the essential skills required for the workforce to deliver the best care people with dementia deserve and so desperately need.”

There are also temporarily frames to add to your Facebook profile photo to further show support:

Colour option 1 - White: www.facebook.com/profilepicframes/?selected_overlay_id=753826501947041

Colour option 2 - Pink: www.facebook.com/profilepicframes/?selected_overlay_id=3830250267024414

For more information about the campaign or to email your local MP, go to https://action.mha.org.uk/campaign/

click here for more details or to contact MHA