I’m campaigning for better services and support for older people, carers and their families, and a sustainable system for funding our NHS and social care in future.
Last week I met with the Care Provider Alliance (CPA) to discuss issues facing the social care sector. The CPA represents the adult social care sector including care homes, home care and supported living. The main thing we discussed was the Chancellor’s latest spending review. The Government announced £1bn […]
Many care homes are reliant on staff from the European Union, and once we leave the EU it will be hard to cover these gaps. Labour has been warning for months now about the risks posed to social care by the Government’s new immigration system, which come on top of […]
On Carers Rights Day, I spoke at North West roundtable with carers and care providers, organised by Cllr Joanne Harding. We heard some heartbreaking stories from people who have not been able to see their families, and the key role that unpaid carers play in looking after elderly, ill or […]
As it stands, only 67 out of 151 local authorities have been able to designate a Covid-only care home in their area. This isn’t just bad for care homes, but also for the NHS, which desperately needs all capacity to treat Covid patients and bring down the huge backlog in cancer […]
The Government’s pilot on testing families with loved ones in care homes fails to meet the urgency or the scale of the task. I spoke to BBC Radio 4 Today about the new pilot programme – listen to the full interview on BBC Sounds.
The Daily Mail are campaigning to ensure families can reunite with loved ones in care homes this Christmas. This is a vital campaign which I urge everyone to back. We’ve been calling for the Government to make families with loved ones in care homes a priority for testing since June, […]
The Daily Mail today launched their Christmas campaign, to get families reunited with their loved ones in care homes before Christmas. There simply isn’t enough time for many of those living in care homes to wait and watch for a pilot scheme or another set of guidelines, we need action […]
During a debate in Parliament today, I once again called on the Government to take urgent action to ensure that all families can start safely visiting their relatives in care homes. Labour has been calling for a single family member to be treated like a key worker and have access […]
Families need to be put at the heart of our care system. I want to make sure they all get the support they need and deserve. I spoke to BBC Radio Leicester this morning about why it’s so important that after eight months, families should be able to […]
Age UK’s latest report shows the immense sacrifices that care staff have made throughout this pandemic. We need a long-term plan for the care workforce as part of wider reforms to tackle the crisis in social care. The Prime Minister must bring forward a plan to reform these vital […]
I spoke to The Independent about the news that some care homes have been asked to identify whether they are able to accept Covid-19 patients. Care homes have been under huge amounts of pressure throughout this pandemic. In particular, many were asked to accept Covid-19 patients who had not been […]
Today I met with the Women’s Budget Group – an organisation monitoring the impact of government policies on gender equality. We discussed the work they have been doing on social care, and their recent research on creating a caring economy. We agreed that care is vital to recovering the economy, […]
