Social Care Brushed Aside Again

Care workers will be paid more… so presumably end users will have to find extra money? Being old and in need of care will become even more expensive?

I’m a care worker,I have been for many years and on minimum wage. I don’t particularly mind because I love the job but more pay would be appreciated because you can actually get more for working in Wetherspoons than you can looking after vulnerable people?
It’s always been the same I’m afraid Care is a very looked down upon job….

A friend who lives in Germany wanted to know when a social care insurance scheme would be launched in the Uk. Apparently this scheme works very well in Germany and presumably care workers are paid a living wage and old people are well cared for without bankruptcy looming. Interesting observation… dream on.

Shinamae

I’m a care worker,I have been for many years and on minimum wage. I don’t particularly mind because I love the job but more pay would be appreciated because you can actually get more for working in Wetherspoons than you can looking after vulnerable people?
It’s always been the same I’m afraid Care is a very looked down upon job….

Florence Nightingale once stated that nursing was left to those who were too old, too weak, too drunken, too dirty, too stupid or too bad to do anything else. It was considered that intimate body services (intimate personal care as we now term it), were unseemly or immodest for young, unmarried or well-bred females. Especially if the caregiver was not a family member.

Cleaning and feeding another person were regarded as domestic tasks performed by servants. (Professor B Gail Thomas. A Brief History of Nursing in the UK, March 2016).

In total, from the time Florence Nightingale established nursing, up until 1983, it took 128 years for nursing to become an established profession. But ultimately it was down to the unity of nurses, their collective will and their determination to see their vocation become a profession.

... there's a long road to travel before Care Workers earn the respect they deserve.

Quotes taken from article by Paul Featherstone, founder of National Association Care & Support Workers (NACAS)

Well does Germany have this problem Dickens? Or is it uniquely Uk?

"Migrant workers have been part of the UK's social care sector for decades. Overseas workers plug vital labour gaps across almost every healthcare profession, while one in four care workers and home carers was born outside of the UK, according to the Office for National Statistics.11 Mar 2024"

there’s a long road to travel before Care Workers earn the respect they deserve

Indeed there is. Care Workers should be paid properly. The ones who looked after my mother deserve a medal, actually no they don’t, they deserve to be paid properly.

ronib

A friend who lives in Germany wanted to know when a social care insurance scheme would be launched in the Uk. Apparently this scheme works very well in Germany and presumably care workers are paid a living wage and old people are well cared for without bankruptcy looming. Interesting observation… dream on.

I do wish any government would look around and see if other countries are doing things better than ourselves.

Social care insurance sounds a good idea to me.

foxie48

"Migrant workers have been part of the UK's social care sector for decades. Overseas workers plug vital labour gaps across almost every healthcare profession, while one in four care workers and home carers was born outside of the UK, according to the Office for National Statistics.11 Mar 2024"

Yes, of course they do.

I dont think anyone complains about that

The system , pre about 1995 worked great.
What happened after that, doesnt.

And I think you will have seen it discussed on GN before. I have certainly said it.

You are mixing up 2 things.
I suspect very deliberately.

I will say sorry in advance, if you are not.

What is national insurance paid for? Perhaps we should not stop paying it ( as our individual incomes allow) at SP age so there is some money for social care?

ronib

Well does Germany have this problem Dickens? Or is it uniquely Uk?

Good question ronib.

I haven't made any studies or comparisons.

Social care insurance might be a workable solution.

I don’t think there’s too much to learn from Germany, it’s not all sunshine and roses in their care system.
www.euractiv.com/section/health-consumers/news/migrant-workers-keep-german-care-system-afloat-say-experts/

I think the WM government doesn’t, like change.The so called war on drugs being a fine example.In SCotland we wanted to change how we deal with drugs ,saving lives as a result.It was vetoed by WM who insist it must be done their way.Isn,t the idea that doing something the same way with the same bad result a sign of certainly incompetence but maybe madness? Or just us who think changing a bad law that’s instrumental in many losing their lives would be a good thing. Care is another example it needs reworked in everyone’s interest,we,ve done some work within our limited budget but much more needs done

Casdon that’s not the experience of the German family I know. Older people in Germany are given good care.

One family’s experience is not the measure of the effectiveness of a system, it’s just one family’s experience ronib. The best care system for older people in the world according to expert analysis is in Norway. Generally, the Scandinavian countries are the most inclusive and have the most satisfied populations.

Casdon

I don’t think there’s too much to learn from Germany, it’s not all sunshine and roses in their care system.
www.euractiv.com/section/health-consumers/news/migrant-workers-keep-german-care-system-afloat-say-experts/

My friend's experience of finding social care for his mother, who lived in Germany wasn't that much different from the UK. The care home offered by the insurance system was about 75km away, so eventually the family paid for a private home. The care/medical co-ordination didn't always work properly. The only difference was that my friend's mother had paid into the German insurance system, so paperwork went through the insurance company rather than the NHS/social services. My friend's mother's home wouldn't have been used to pay for the care, although it was in the end anyway because a private home was used.

paddyann54

I think the WM government doesn’t, like change.The so called war on drugs being a fine example.In SCotland we wanted to change how we deal with drugs ,saving lives as a result.It was vetoed by WM who insist it must be done their way.Isn,t the idea that doing something the same way with the same bad result a sign of certainly incompetence but maybe madness? Or just us who think changing a bad law that’s instrumental in many losing their lives would be a good thing. Care is another example it needs reworked in everyone’s interest,we,ve done some work within our limited budget but much more needs done

Maybe the SNP's proposed decriminalisation of drugs for personal use is just one of the reasons the SNP were decimated in the GE.
Scottish elderly care is as much a lottery as anywhere else the UK.

If you bother to read the link that Casdon posted it refers to Germany's Health and care system being kept afloat by migrant workers, which is pretty much the same as the UK as we have identical problems with regard to an ageing population. The big difference is that Germany's migrants come from other countries that are members of the EU (mostly from Eastern Europe) topped up with non European migrants. Since Brexit we have few Europeans working in our Care and Health settings and most of the migrant workers come from outside the EU. Daughter is a doctor in Wales and she says lots of Spanish nurses worked in Welsh hospitals but they all went home post Brexit! fwiw There are 131,000 vacancies for care workers ATM despite 25% of our current workers being migrants. It's impossible to have a decent standard of care if there are not enough trained care workers.

I am disappointed, but not surprised that Social Care wasn’t mentioned.

Starmer has said from the word go, that he will never over-promise and underdeliver, consequently he has been forced to prioritise and the NHS, the climate and housing amongst other things have taken priority this time around.

However, when economic growth returns to the U.K. I will expect and put pressure on my MP to provide 2 further things. The first is to remove the cap on child benefit and to provide or begin to plan for a comprehensive social care system in the U.K. .

If Labour don't fix social care (and the NHS) they will pay for it at the next General Election. Simply raising wages for care staff won't fix it given unemployment is low and post-Brexit we are not seeing care worker immigrants.

We need to bear in mind that the Kings Speech covers the immediate future, not the whole course of the parliament. Many issues were not specifically mentioned, often because there is a longer term plan which won’t see immediate results, and/or where the path to reach the desired position is several steps away from the current position. I believe that is the case for social care. It would only be a sticking plaster over a mortal wound if the government said it could fix it in the first year. I’m sure the work to identify the best way forward is starting, that’s the best we can hope for in year one.

The NHS can’t be improved in many areas without improving social care at the same time.
Use of operations speeded up - good; waiting lists go down - good. In consequence greater numbers are discharged from hospital beds, of whom the same percentage require ongoing social care. Therefore overall increase in numbers requiring social care. Oh. Oops. No more care workers. Delayed discharges increase; fewer operations can be performed because patient throughput stalls; therefore no point in speeding up operations; therefore waiting lists rise again….

Labour has had a long time to get to grips with social care and the NHS waiting lists etc. It was not exactly a State secret. Delaying tactics as yet another report being commissioned by Lord Darzi…. Very disappointing ? I thought the NHS waiting lists were urgent, extremely urgent even?

Reducing waiting lists won’t impact greatly on social care winterwhite, because most operations are one off events, which will improve people’s lives rather than making them more dependent on social care support than they were prior to their operation. A few more people who live alone may require short term support after discharge, but the social care problem is more about long term care needs being met, whether at home or in the community than it is about short term care.