I’ve written to the Health Secretary, Matt Hancock, urging him to put in place a recovery plan for social care, which is integral to the overall recovery strategy for our country, alongside the longer-term reforms social care desperately needs. These are some of the areas where I believe greater focus […]
Today I attended a “Care for a Cuppa” event hosted by Carers UK. I’d like to say a huge thanks to everyone who joined the event. The pressure and stress of looking after a sick, elderly or disabled relative during Covid-19 has been huge and families need far more attention […]
I recently met with The Carers Centre of Leicestershire and Rutland, and local family carers to mark Carers week and discuss their experiences through the lockdown. Prior to the pandemic, there were 9 million unpaid family carers in the UK. Many already felt pushed to breaking point, even before the […]
As everyone starts talking about easing the lockdown, we mustn’t forget that the lockdown in care homes isn’t ending any time soon. Residential and home care workers must be a priority for testing, not just once but on a regular basis. You can watch a clip of me talking about […]
Instead of denying delays and problems in social care, ministers should learn from mistakes, so they can put the right measures in place, and keep all elderly and disabled people safe. You can watch my urgent question about this to the Health Secretary here.
In my Leicester Mercury column this month, I talk about the unfolding tragedy in social care. The Office for National Statistics says that 5,890 people have so far died from Covid-19 in care homes, up until the week ending 24 April. That’s more than a third of all deaths from […]
I was recently a guest on #socialcarefuture’s podcast. On the show we talked about re-settling social care as we emerge from this awful virus, and how reframing the debate is vital to get public support for the right kind of change. You can listen to the episode here.
These statistics show a horrific increase in the number of people who have died in care homes. The Government has been warned that the increase in the infection rate has been driven by the epidemic in care homes and yet it has failed to tackle it. There is still complete […]
I recently wrote to Helen Whately, the Social Care Minister, about two issues which I believe require further attention: the impact of Covid-19 on people with learning disabilities and ensuring openness and transparency about local council ‘easements’ to the 2014 Care Act. There is long established evidence that people with […]
Almost 8,000 people have died in care homes, and we are still seeing serious problems with getting personal protective equipment (PPE) to frontline care workers. I’ve heard directly from care staff who have only just received PPE, and many are having to re-use the same mask all day. This is […]
Today I joined the BBC News Panel reacting to Prime Minister’s Questions. One of the main topics we talked about was the Government moving to publish daily figures for COVID-19 related deaths outside of hospitals, including in care homes. This is something I had been pushing the Government to do, […]
Today the ONS and CQC published statistics showing one third of deaths due to Covid-19 were in care homes in the week ending 17th April. These new figures show the devastating impact Covid-19 is having on care homes, and will be desperately worrying for residents, their families, and staff. Urgent […]