Care show review
A National Care Service? Concrete answers to any of the big questions facing social care were also absent from Day Two of the show, despite the best efforts of Nadra Ahmed, executive chairman of the National Care Association, Care Worker’s Charity CEO Karolina Gerlich, the Social Care Institute for Excellence’s George Appleton, and the National Care Forum’s Vic Rayner to divine The future of social care: what will a new government bring to the sector? at 10:15 at the Care Keynote Theatre. George Appleton opened proceedings in upbeat fashion, saying: “There is cause for optimism that this Labour government will bring with it the resources, the political will, and the vision for a truly sustainable social care sector.” And the panel were united in their view that the Employment Rights Bill – announced shortly before this year’s Care Show – would have a positive impact for care workers. A key topic of discussion, of course, was the concept of a ‘National Care Service’, with George’s acknowledgment that the detail surrounding such a service remained “relatively vague” being something of an understatement. Nadra Ahmed stated that the likely timetable was that the government would turn its attention to establishing such a service only in its second term in office (assuming it gets one), with year seven or eight of a Labour administration mooted by Nadra as the likely point at which concrete discussions around establishing a National Care Service might begin. In other words, anyone expecting the establishment of a National Care Service any time soon would be well-advised to adjust their expectations, although Vic Rayner did point out that a
mooted National Care Contract for care workers would “ … in essence include the framework for a National Care Service.” The panel agreed that there was little enthusiasm in the sector for a Royal Commission on social care, with Vic Rayner pointing out that workers across social care no doubt feel they have “ … had a chance to have a voice in a whole host of different consultations,” over the past few years, although she did point out that the issues at hand – a growing ageing population needing care, how the country would pay for that, and whom will be doing the actual caring – needed now, more than ever, to be addressed head-on. These topics have already been widely and comprehensively discussed, of course, and Nadra reflected that “ … we’ve [already] had a number of Royal Commissions, and there’s a bit of me that thinks they need to pull them all down, have
a look at them, have a good read of them, and then see what’s missing and what’s changed … because we’re looking at a huge amount of information that’s out there.” There are certainly a lot of stats and figures – few of them encouraging – when it comes to the state of the social care workforce and the persistent, chronic shortfall in worker numbers. At 12:00 at the Care Keynote theatre, Jane Brightman, director of workforce strategy at Skills For Care, discussed The state of the adult social care sector and workforce in England: a Skills for Care report and took the audience through the Workforce Strategy for Adult Social Care. Notably, Jane called for a “… more professional, grown-up relationship” between the government and social care, based on the “economic value” the sector brings to England, which Jane pegged at around £68 bn, and which, she argued, the sector needed to be doing a much better job of shouting about. Jane discusses the Strategy in detail on p 36 of this issue.
Blaming the computer One thing that united Care Show attendees and exhibitors alike was that nobody had a good word to say about the beleaguered CQC. Nonetheless, at 13:45 in the Care Keynote theatre, James Bullion, chief inspector of adult social care and integrated care, gamely took to the stage to deliver An update from the CQC to a standing- room-only audience. To his credit, James acknowledged the CQC’s failings – and the frustrations felt across social care when it comes how the CQC does its job (or not) – but in being so quick to blame the CQC’s “computer systems” and/or a greater
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www.thecarehomeenvironment.com November 2024
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