We warmly welcome the DHSC Adult Social Care Action Plan. Government appears to have listened and responded to many of the critical immediate issues facing social care. Plans around PPE, Testing, Discharge and dedicated branding for the social care workforce will, if they are successfully delivered, make a real difference.
It is a big if. We urge government to leave no stone unturned in their determination to fill in the details and fulfil this Action Plan – taking account of both regulated and unregulated care throughout.
The Action Plan reiterates the need for a cross party solution to the social care crisis in the longer term. It was a Conservative manifesto commitment to initiate this within the first 100 days after the election. We urge government to remember the extraordinary commitment and resilience of the social care workforce, and to use the momentum from this Action Plan to develop realistic long term funding and workforce solutions for the sector.
Social care must be prioritised alongside the NHS in all decision making, recognising that the one can never be healthy if the other is not. From PPE access to indemnity provision, in both the immediate and longer term the two sectors need to be considered as one.