David Oliver: We’re further than ever from solving the social care crisis

Thérèse Coffey, secretary of state for health and social care and deputy prime minister, has been touring the media studios touting her “ABCD” of priorities for health. The “C” stands for care, but the only firm commitment in her plan is £500m for winter social care, funded from existing budgets.1 This proposal aims to speed up hospital discharges but says nothing about longer term solutions or the far wider range of roles social care plays beyond helping people to leave hospital.Coffey has also discussed relaxing visa requirements for social care staff coming from overseas (requirements that this government created against advice), a recruitment campaign, and detail-free promises about professional development—but not much else. Considering that the new prime minister and cabinet have no electoral mandate, it’s worth remembering that in 2019 the prime minister, Boris Johnson, promised to “fix the crisis in social care, once and for all, with a…
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