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Queen’s Speech silence on social care leaves ‘bitter taste’ for Care England
Care England has called out the government for its failure to mention social care in this year’s Queen’s Speech. This omission, says the largest representative body for independent providers of adult social care, clearly indicates that social care is not a high priority for the government despite the important role social care has to play in economic regeneration and levelling up. According to Care England, the
government needs to connect its various strategies, and social care should be a theme that runs through its recovery agenda. The chief executive of Care England, Professor Martin Green OBE, said: “The Queen’s Speech was an opportunity for the government to set out the plan for further social care reform, and to offer additional resources for a sector that needs further
government support in order to build back sustainability and capacity after the COVID pandemic. The lack of mention or reference to adult social care in this year’s state opening of parliament leaves a bitter taste for the care sector. The government has set out its plan to fix social care, but with no mention of continued reform or additional financial support for adult social care, the government
Government must bring back COVID fund to safeguard ‘lives and livelihood’ says UNISON
UNISON and the Care Provider Alliance (CPA) have written jointly to Sajid Javid urging him to reinstate COVID funding for social care.
The letter to secretary of state for health and social care says that the government’s decision to end the adult social care COVID infection control fund (ICF) at a time when virus rates remain high is an ‘incredibly dangerous move’ that will ‘cost lives’. Introduced in May 2020, the £1.75bn
fund gave financial support to care providers so they could continue to pay full wages to staff while they were self-isolating. However, funding was stopped at the end of March in a move criticised by UNISON and the CPA, which brings together the ten main national associations representing independent and voluntary care employers. According to the two organisations, it
is ‘beyond belief’ that this ‘vital financial lifeline’ has been cut for low-paid staff trying to protect vulnerable people, ‘particularly during the worst cost of living crisis in over 60 years’.
The letter continues: ‘The government should be encouraging and rewarding staff for doing the right thing by self-isolating, not making it impossible for them to feed their families. Growing numbers of care workers are being forced to turn to food banks as budgets are stretched to breaking point. Others are having to leave jobs they love in search of better paid and more secure work.’
UNISON and the CPA warn that major
worker shortages in the care sector are already ‘undermining the quality of care provided across England’. They also write that this staffing crisis is ‘preventing the discharge of NHS patients back into the community, consequently limiting access to medical services and piling more pressure on the system.’
The letter also highlights that evidence from studies commissioned by the government shows that the prevalence of COVID was higher in care homes and other workplaces where staff did not receive proper sick pay.
has turned its back on a sector it promised in their manifesto. By failing to directly commit to supporting the sector, care providers are left unsure of how they will manage this current wave of inflation and additional pressures they are under, whilst the NHS will continue to suffer. “Government has overlooked an opportunity to invest in the future sustainability of the sector which supports some of society’s most vulnerable. The current plan for reform leaves care providers unsure of the financial security of their sector. Adult social care must return to the government’s policy agenda to renew its commitments to ‘fix social care’. If this is not achieved, then the government risks allowing the care sector to continue to walk precariously into a future at risk of collapse.”
Person Centred Software charts new course with Atlas eMAR
Digital care planning provider Person Centred Software has acquired electronic medication management specialist Atlas eMAR. Atlas eMAR’s technology digitally links care homes with both GP prescribing systems and supplying pharmacies. The acquisition marks what Person Centred Software calls ‘a significant turning point in the delivery of care between health and social care services.’ The two providers have already been
working in partnership for the past five years. Atlas, widely recognised as the industry’s leading eMAR (electronic Medication Administration Records) system, operates in 165 pharmacies and over 700 care homes across England, Wales, and Scotland. The acquisition will enable the 3,000+ care home users of Person Centred Software’s Digital Care System to benefit from Atlas’ expertise in medication management. Users of Atlas and Person Centred Software products combined will experience an ‘enhanced level of integration’ in line with the government’s policy of furthering the digital integration of health and social care.
June 2022
www.thecarehomeenvironment.com 9
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