Opinion
An opportunity for change in the social care system
Audley Group managing director for operations Paul Morgan makes the case for reforms to ensure the development of housing with care schemes can keep pace with the aging population and ease societal pressures
It is now over year since the UK went into its first national lockdown. A lot has changed since 23 March 2020 though I think we would all be forgiven for not feeling that way as we make our way through a third national lockdown. There is reason for optimism. From
facing a huge unknown and momentous fight against an invisible enemy at the start of March 2020, we now have several effective vaccines that can prevent serious infection and slow the spread of Covid-19. These vaccines offer real hope that ‘normal’ life will return in the coming months. Our care team continues to work
incredibly hard through the pandemic and I cannot express enough gratitude. They have helped and supported strangers, raised money for charity, celebrated birthdays and anniversaries without their loved ones and we have even had some turn their hand to hairdressing and outdoor landscaping in a bid to raise the spirits of our owners and community care clients. We have delivered afternoon tea
from our restaurants and bistros to the doorstep of clients, we have opened onsite pantries so people living in our
villages had access to all the essentials – including pasta and toilet rolls! - and we have taken many of our social events and exercise classes online. The effort from every member of the Audley team has been inspiring. We continue to have great success
in keeping our property owners and customers in the local community well through the pandemic. We shut the villages down early, made sure we had adequate PPE, put temperature checks in place and adopted our own track and trace system. To date we have had very few cases in the villages and the retirement living sector has shown great capability to keep people safe.
Long lasting impact of the pandemic Yet the tragic impact of the pandemic on the entire care sector will not be easily
Even before the events of 2020, the social care system was struggling and in desperate need of reform. There have been red flags for years
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forgotten. It has been devasting and raised many questions about the care, we as a country, provide to people as they get older. We know that people living in care
homes have found themselves at greater risk during the pandemic. Yet those receiving care at home have struggled as well. We carried out research in the autumn and found that more than two in five (42 per cent) people in the UK aged over 65 have been unable to access the care they need through the pandemic.1 Perhaps more worryingly, 40 per cent of
these people said they have simply had to deal with the consequences of not being able to access the support they need. We have also seen NHS waiting lists hit their highest levels since 2008 as it struggled to keep up with demand. By the end of 2020, nearly 163,000 people had waited over 12 months for hospital treatment2
and some
surgeons say it could take three years to clear the backlog. The target is that patients are seen in
18 weeks. This highlights the extensive impact of the pandemic on the entire healthcare system. However, I worry the pandemic has exposed just the tip of the iceberg. Even before the events of 2020, the
www.thecarehomeenvironment.com • April 2021
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