PM says he has 'the guts' to tackle big issues like social care

Banging his fists on the lectern, Prime Minister Boris Johnson delivered his trademark punchy prose to the party faithful at the Conservative Party conference by promising to “get social care done” and address problems “no government has had the guts to tackle before”.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Credit: BBC

Speaking today beside his slogan ‘Build Back Better’, Boris Johnson said: “When I stood on the steps of Downing Street, I promised to fix this crisis.

"And after decades of drift and dither this reforming government, this can do government, this government that got Brexit done, that’s getting the Covid vaccine rollout done, is going to get social care done.

“We are going to deal with the biggest underlying issues of our economy and society, the problems that no government has had the guts to tackle before.”

‘Brutal lottery of old age’

Mr Johnson told the country: “When this country was sick our NHS was the nurse: frontline health care workers: battled against a new disease, selflessly, risking their lives, sacrificing their lives.

“In 1948, this country created the National Health Service but kept social care local. And though that made sense in many ways generations of older people have found themselves lost in the gap.”

The prime minister pledged to stand by those who “face total destitution in this brutal lottery of old age" in which treatment for cancer is funded by the state "and care for alzheimers is not – or only partly and to fix these twin problems of the NHS and social care”.

Mr Johnson announced he would use new technology to deliver a single set of electronic records as patients pass between health and social care. He also said hospital waiting lists “will almost certainly go up before it comes down” and promised to improve care by ensuring that “cash goes to the frontline and not on needless bureaucracy”.

His ‘levelling up’ speech has been described as light on policy and went down less favourably amongst care leaders who are hoping for some real policy solutions from his Chancellor’s Spending Review on 27 October.

NCF: 'Harness the economic potential social care brings'

Vic Rayner, chief executive of National Care Forum (NCF), which represents care providers, has called for an end to “the short-termism over investment in social care”.

Ms Rayner said after the recent announcement of the Health and Social Care Levy, the Comprehensive Spending Review must now “take the next steps to recognise and harness the economic potential social care brings at a local, regional and national level”.

“Social Care must be seen as an essential part of the nation’s infrastructure. Adult social care is a major economic driver in the UK and contributes to local economies in every part of the country."

Following the announcement of £5.4bn over three years for adult social care in England as part of the new levy, the National Care Forum’s chief said “a larger share of the Levy needs to be apportioned to adult social care now” .

As labour shortages rock the care sector, she describes £5.4bn as falling “considerably short” of the extra £7bn per year recommended by the Health and Social Care Select Committee and the extra £3.9bn recommended by the Health Foundation to raise workforce salaries.