Scarborough Care Leader Meets Social Care Minister

Scarborough based care campaigner, Mike Padgham, urged Social Care Minister Stephen Kinnock to work with providers to tackle the ongoing crisis in social care when they met yesterday.

Mr Padgham, chair of the provider organisation, The Independent Care Group (ICG), met Mr Kinnock in Westminster for “constructive” talks and came away optimistic.

Mike Padgham said:

“I was encouraged that the minister listened and very clearly knew that social care is facing some very serious challenges and that something needs to be done,”

“I believe there is an intent for improvement, but the proof of the pudding is in the eating and time will tell.”

The pair discussed improving care staff pay, reforming social care commissioning so that a fairer price is paid for care and reforming the Care Quality Commission so that duplication of inspection was avoided.

They also discussed how the Government should work with social care providers to tackle issues facing the sector.

Mr Padgham added.

“I said the Government needs to embrace the knowledge and expertise that is available in the sector, as we all understand that it cannot solve all the problems itself,”

“I began by inviting the minister up to North Yorkshire to see first-hand some of the challenges that face care providers on a day-to-day basis.

“I also acknowledged that the social care sector has to get its own act together, not least by addressing the number of representative bodies we have and ensuring we speak with one, coherent and consistent voice.

“I also stressed to him how important it was that social care had a voice on the Integrated Care Boards so that providers and commissioners work together to deliver care.”

Mr Padgham pointed out that social care contributes £55.7bn to the England economy and employs more than 1.6m people.

“The sector could contribute and employ considerably more if resources were switched from the NHS to support social care,”

“Skills for Care research suggested an extra £6.1bn invested in social care would provide economic benefits of £10.7bn – for every £1 invested, a return of £1.75.”

The meeting came amidst concerns after the number of people living without the care they need topped 2m for the first time.

Mr Padgham presented the minister with a document setting out three urgent reforms needed to tackle the crisis in adult social care.

These include switching resources from the NHS into social care to address a chronic lack of available care, reforming pay and conditions for the social care workforce to tackle a 131,000 shortage and reforming social care commissioning to make it fairer for providers.

Mr Padgham shared with the Minister a copy of the document Building Capacity and Partnership in Care, published by the Labour Government in 2001. In it, then Health Secretary Alan Milburn spoke of creating a partnership betweek government, providers and commissioners to create “excellent services that promote independence, self-esteem and social inclusion”.

Mr Padgham added:

“I said the Government would do well to revisit the Building Capacity document, as it offered so many sensible actions, but sadly too few were ever introduced,”

Prior to the General Election, Mr Padgham endorsed the Labour candidate for Scarborough and Whitby, Alison Hume, who went on to win the seat at the July poll. She publicly backed calls for social care reform and the introduction of a National Care Service.

The ICG is campaigning for full-scale reform to social care.

It has published its Five Pillars of Social Care Reform document, which proposes ring-fencing a percentage of GDP for care, creating a National Care Service, setting a minimum carer wage, establishing a task force for reform and creating fair tariffs for services such as care beds and homecare visits.

The ICG argues that shifting funding from the NHS to social care would eventually save money by providing more preventative care in our local communities and keeping people out of hospital, helping to cut waiting lists.