More than 175,000 patients were referred last year for Continuing Healthcare funding (CHC), typically worth around £1,000 a week. New findings show that there were failings in more than a third of cases investigated by the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman, meaning incorrect and delayed decisions were being made by […]
Liz in the news
Find out what I’ve been saying and doing in the media.
New care crisis looms as rules shut out EU staff
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 […]
Poll reveals scale of ‘home alone’ Christmas in the UK this year
Twice the number of people as normal have said they’ll spend Christmas alone this year as a result of the pandemic. This follows a growing concern about the impact of loneliness during the pandemic – the consequences of this must not be ignored. Read more in The Guardian.
Liz responds to the Spending Review on Peston
Following the Chancellor’s Spending Review, I appeared on Peston to discuss the main announcements. The Government is hitting those on the lowest incomes, with a public sector pay freeze and £20/week cuts to Universal Credit. The Chancellor needs to reprioritise, and focus on building jobs and growth in every part […]
Leicester MPs respond to city entering Tier 3
The Government have announced that Leicester will now be in Tier 3 of local restrictions. I’ve published a joint statement with Jon Ashworth, MP for Leicester South, and Claudia Webbe, MP for Leicester East, outlining what must be done to help our city throughout this challenging time. Leicester has been […]
Care homes need urgent funding so staff can lay on family visits this Christmas, report warns
Care homes are spending an average of £4,000 to help relatives see their loved ones. Families are desperate to visit relatives in care homes, and we know visits are vital to mental health and wellbeing of residents. The Government have failed to back up their promises to families with the […]
Liz calls for action in Leicester’s garment industry
I secured a Parliamentary debate earlier this week on worker exploitation in Leicester’s garment industry. We know that there are failings across the industry, and in particular among factories supplying Boohoo. The debate focused on three main areas: the failure of Boohoo to take action following allegations of poor working […]
Most of the 87,000 people who died in care homes during the coronavirus pandemic were denied family comfort in their final days
New figures from the Labour Party show that there are around 157,000 coronavirus tests a day going unused. This excess testing capacity in the system shows that family testing can be done now, not after a pilot. For families of care home residents every week is crucial and we cannot […]
Delays to Covid-only care home plan could strand patients, warn England health chiefs
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 […]
Liz speaks to BBC Radio 4 Today about care home visitor pilot
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.
We WILL show families we care this Christmas – but is it too little too late?
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, […]
Let them hold hands: a heartbreaking picture of Britain’s chaotic care home visiting rules
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 […]