Care chiefs urge new Prime Minister Liz Truss to be 'bold' and make care crisis top priority

Liz Truss is the UK’s new Prime Minister and care leaders are demanding she be 'bold' by making the care crisis her top priority with enough funding, a care home energy price cap and a grant covering home care workers' fuel costs.

After defeating former chancellor Rishi Sunak in the Conservative leadership contest, the former foreign secretary Liz Truss became Prime Minister on Tuesday, 6 September when she met Queen Elizabeth II at Balmoral Castle in Scotland.

It was Sir Graham Brady, chairman of the 1922 Committee, who announced on 5 September that Liz Truss, the MP for South West Norfolk, had won 81,326 votes compared to Rishi Sunak’s 60,399 votes in the Conservative leadership contest.

Some 57 per cent of valid votes cast in the contest by Conservative party members were for Liz Truss. Sir Graham Brady announced a turnout of 82.6 per cent.

Liz Truss: 'Bold' plan to cut taxes

In her victory speech, Liz Truss did not mention social care but promised she "will deliver a bold plan to cut taxes and grow our economy".

Liz Truss said: "During this leadership campaign, I campaigned as a Conservative and I will govern as a Conservative. And my friends, we need to show that we will deliver over the next two years.

"I will deliver on the energy crisis, dealing with people’s energy bills, but also dealing with the long-term issues we have on energy supply.

"And I will deliver on the National Health Service.

"But we all will deliver for our country. And I will make sure that we use all the fantastic talents of the Conservative party, our brilliant members of parliament and peers, our fantastic councillors, our MSs, our MSPs, all of our councillors and activists and members right across our country. Because, my friends, I know that we will deliver, we will deliver and we will deliver."

In a speech that paid tribute to former Prime Minister Boris Johnson and leadership contender Rishi Sunak, Liz Truss concluded: “We will deliver a great victory for the Conservative party in 2024."

New PM urged to save 'battered' care sector

With a Liz Truss victory announced, care providers are urging the new Prime Minister make the care crisis faced by the country’s oldest and disabled people a top priority.

Care home chiefs want Liz Truss to include care homes and nursing homes in the price cap for energy prices and give people living in care settings utility bill rebates.

The Independent Care Group (ICG), which represents care home and home care providers, has written to Liz Truss calling on her to take emergency measures to save the social care sector which has been 'battered by Covid-19, a severe staffing shortage and now the cost-of-living crisis'.

In a letter to the new Prime Minister, the ICG, which represents care providers, stated: ‘The sector finds itself facing a massive staffing shortage and huge increases in costs, including rocketing fuel and utility prices.

‘There is a very real risk of significant provider failure with a subsequent loss of care provision. There are already huge delays in hospital discharges because there are no packages of social care available to look after people when they leave hospital. This is only going to get worse.’

Mike Padgham, chair of the ICG, said of Liz Truss’ role as PM: “Social care has to be a top priority for her new government. Others before her have promised and failed but tackling this crisis cannot wait. We know that there will be many things in her in-tray, but we do appeal to her to tackle social care.”

£107m wanted to tackle home care workers' higher fuel costs

Home care providers are calling for help to tackle huge fuel costs. Dr Jane Townson, the chief executive of the Homecare Association, has written to Liz Truss to ask for 'immediate emergency grant funding' of £107m a year to help cover higher fuel costs incurred by home care workers.

Home care organisations also want immediate financial support to manage the pressures of COVID-19 and influenza over the winter. The Homecare Association's chief has also called for an increase in baseline funding for home care by at least £1.7bn a year to support recruitment and retention of care workers - by enabling payment of wages equivalent to NHS Band 3 Healthcare Assistants.

While Liz Truss' predecessor Boris Johnson spoke of having delivered social care reform as he left Downing Street on 6 September, Dr Townson says real social care reform lies in a credible 10-year workforce strategy for social care, aligned with the NHS People Plan.

Dr Jane Townson said: "It makes little sense to neglect people in the community, wait for a crisis, then rely on expensive and limited critical care services. Regrettably, though, this is the UK’s current health and care strategy, and evidence suggests that it is failing."

Care providers want money from the Health and Social Care levy to support care homes and home care providers and to see better pay for care staff to tackle the current staffing crisis.

Dr Townson added: "We are concerned about the proposed removal of the National Insurance increase, as the Health and Social Care Levy was allocated to support the NHS and social care reform. The money will have to come from somewhere to avoid a complete meltdown in services, which are already in a parlous state.

"We call on the Prime Minister to prioritise additional funding for home care to help build vital capacity for this winter and beyond."

Thérèse Coffey tipped to replace Steve Barclay as health secretary

As she forms a new government, Liz Truss is reportedly keen to replace Secretary of State for Health and Social Care Steve Barclay with Thérèse Coffey, the current Secretary of state for work and pensions. Steve Barclay has only been in the job since 5 July.

On 5 September, Mr Barclay told the House of Commons: "We are putting an intense focus on the issue of delayed discharge. Delayed discharge means longer waits in A&E, lengthier ambulance handover times and the risk of patients deteriorating if they remain in hospital beds too long – particularly the frail elderly.

"The most recent figures, from the end of July, show that the number of these patients is just over 13,000 – similar numbers to the winter months."

Referring to Liz Truss' new job, Kari Gerstheimer, chief executive of Access Social Care said: "Team Truss has marched to victory. What I ask of Liz Truss is to take bold, necessary action to guarantee a sustained long-term funding plan for the adult social care system, ensuring that everyone has access to a fair cost of care."

Deborah Auty, head of communications at Revitalise, a charity providing respite breaks for disabled people and carers said: "In her election campaign, Liz Truss pledged to divert £13 billion of NHS funding into social care, without revealing what impact these cuts will have on the NHS itself. We all know that we cannot fix the problems in the NHS without tackling the crisis in social care, but we cannot simply move precious funds around without consequence.

"This government has shown it can find the money to tackle issues such as the Covid pandemic when it needs to. Social care needs to be properly funded so everyone who needs to can access vital social care services. Now is the time for tough, decisive action. We hope that Liz Truss is the person who can deliver it."