Protecting social care for the future

If there is any­thing pos­i­tive to draw from this dread­ful pan­dem­ic, it is the pro­fes­sion­al­ism of the adult social care work­force. The work­force, our sector’s biggest and best resource, has nev­er had due under­stand­ing or thus recog­ni­tion, but these last few months have demon­strat­ed its ded­i­ca­tion, com­mit­ment and resilience. 

While the work­force is resilient, it is only as resilient as the fund­ing and sup­port behind it, hence the need for ade­quate long-term sup­port for the sec­tor. No longer can social care be seen as the under­dog, instead it needs to be seen as a vital part of an inter­de­pen­dent sys­tem with the NHS.

As the largest rep­re­sen­ta­tive body for inde­pen­dent providers of adult social care, Care Eng­land is work­ing to ensure there is the fund­ing avail­able to sta­bilise the cur­rent sys­tem.  We want to cre­ate a vision for the future of social care, which posi­tions it as an essen­tial part of the nation­al infra­struc­ture.

There have been many false starts for social care, includ­ing numer­ous con­sul­ta­tions, revi­sions and inquiries, but if reforms are not made now, the sec­tor will teeter on the brink of col­lapse. Care homes are an essen­tial part of the con­tin­u­um of care and thus crit­i­cal to the nation’s vision where social care is seen as a resource, not a bur­den. And let’s not for­get that it rivals the NHS as the biggest employ­er in the coun­try.

Measuring success in outcomes is key

Part of this vision for social care is reclaim­ing the term “inte­gra­tion”. Real inte­gra­tion is not about the struc­tures of organ­i­sa­tions, but it is about the out­comes; out­comes for the peo­ple the sys­tem serves. The expe­ri­ence of the ser­vice user and out­comes are para­mount as are the effi­cient and effec­tive use of resources. What is required now is a dif­fer­ent cul­ture, one where suc­cess is mea­sured in out­comes.

We need to see care staff treat­ed as the true pro­fes­sion­als they are. The adult social care work­force needs to be seen for what it is: an excit­ing, chal­leng­ing, pro­fes­sion­al career; and we have to ensure staff are remu­ner­at­ed accord­ing­ly.

The gov­ern­ment must start devel­op­ing a prop­er career path­way for social care, with clear skills and com­pe­ten­cy frame­works and an entrenched career esca­la­tor. This recog­ni­tion must also trans­late into the pay and con­di­tions of care staff on a par with the NHS and oth­er pub­lic ser­vices.

The coro­n­avirus pan­dem­ic has exposed the fault lines in the sys­tem and for all the rhetoric about health and social care, social care has clear­ly been an after­thought in much of the plan­ning and devel­op­ment that went on before this pan­dem­ic. This must not be allowed to con­tin­ue and in the future we must see social care and the NHS as inter­de­pen­dent sys­tems requir­ing the same lev­el of pri­or­i­ty from the gov­ern­ment and the same lev­el of recog­ni­tion from soci­ety.

Safeguarding social care is crucial

The pan­dem­ic has under­lined the val­ue of adult social care to England’s econ­o­my, com­mu­ni­ties and soci­ety. It is vital that we safe­guard this nation­al asset in the com­ing weeks, months and years ahead. A fail­ure to do so will not only dam­age the UK’s inter­ests in the short term, but also, impinge upon its abil­i­ty to respond to longer term demo­graph­ic change. Addi­tion­al fund­ing, sup­port and atten­tion for the sec­tor are all part of this effort. Whilst the NHS’s abil­i­ty to oper­ate is con­tin­gent upon the strength of the adult social care sys­tem. Thus, ade­quate invest­ment in the NHS must be in tan­dem with suf­fi­cient sup­port for the adult social care sec­tor.

These are tough objec­tives, but Care Eng­land will fight tena­cious­ly to repo­si­tion social care so it is seen by gov­ern­ment as an essen­tial part of our sys­tem and recog­nised by the gen­er­al pub­lic for the amaz­ing way it sup­ports peo­ple and trans­forms lives.