David Oliver: England is still waiting for social care solutions

In Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot, Vladimir says, “Well. What do we do?”—to which Estragon replies, “Don’t let’s do anything. It’s safer.” Later, Estragon tells us that “nothing happens. Nobody comes. Nobody goes. It’s awful.”1Waiting for meaningful solutions in social care policy feels very similar, with little hope on the horizon. A quick historical timeline serves to emphasise the despair many of us feel, as keenly as Beckett’s protagonists.The Sutherland royal commission’s With Respect to Old Age report, published in 1999, made a series of recommendations on adult social care funding and provision,2 with few fully implemented. In 2010 the health secretary, Andy Burnham, tried to convene cross party talks on sustainable solutions, which were boycotted by the Conservatives and briefed against as a “death tax.”3 In 2011 the government commission chaired by Andrew Dilnot took extensive evidence, examined several options, and recommended a lifetime cap on care costs and…
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