Boris Johnson’s claim that he has delivered on his manifesto commitment to reform social care has been criticised as a “final insult” by care sector leaders.
Speaking outside No 10 Downing Street for the last time on Tuesday morning, Mr Johnson listed his achievements in office. He said his government had succeeded in “delivering Brexit, delivering our manifesto commitments, including by the way, including social care, reforming social care.”
Representatives of care homes, residents and families have challenged Mr Johnson’s claim, with one charity leader saying it was “a final insult from the outgoing prime minister to the millions of people who are being left without the support they need.”
Chief executive of Care England, Professor Martin Green, said that “although the PM committed to fixing social care in the 2019 manifesto, it is far from fixed.”
Another sector expert said Mr Johnson’s speech “shows his disdain for all those people waiting for the care they need.”
Last month the government’s Levelling Up committee found that urgent additional funding was needed to help the ravaged adult social care sector.
Clive Betts MP, chair of the committee, said that the government could be “under no illusions that it has come close to rescuing social care and it needs to be open with the public that there is a long way to go.”
2.6million people aged fifty and above are living with unmet care needs in England, according to the Care and Support Alliance - a figure equivalent to 12 per cent of the entire population of the same age.
Unmet care needs include people being unable to dress themselves properly, having difficulty walking across a room, and not being able to have a bath or shower.
“We’re talking about people not being able to live a life of dignity, leaving them in unsafe situations,” Helen Wildbore, director of the Relatives and Residents Assocation, told The Independent.
“This was a problem when Boris Johnson took over and is still a problem now so for him to say ‘job done’ and pat himself on the back is an insult. Tell that to the thousands of people struggling,” she said.
Forty-five per cent of care providers in the South-East are considering exiting the market, with a similar trend expected nationwide, Care England said.
“Energy prices have increased by over 600 per cent since August last year, with care providers ignored entirely by the current package of government support,” Professor Green said.
Mike Padgham, managing director of the Saint Cecilia care home group in Scarborough, said that he had been encouraged at the beginning of Mr Johnson’s premiership when the politician put social care at the forefront of his agenda.
“He stood in the same place outside No 10 a couple of years ago and said he was going to reform social care. But in his speech today I would disagree with him because he didn’t get social care done at all,” Mr Padgham said.
“I was very disappointed that social care didn’t get fixed under his tenure, because he was one of the PMs that said he was going to fix it. They did put in some reforms - for example caps on social care fees - but they have been delayed and they’ve not actually happened yet.”
Sara Livadeas, a social care consultant, said that Mr Johnson’s claim to have reformed social care “shows his disdain for all those people waiting for the care they need, many stuck in hospital.
“And is an affront to all those care teams desperately trying to make ends meet.”
Liz Truss has got to be “bold and fund care properly”, Mr Padgham said. He also said that urgent work needs to be done to raise social care staff wages in line with other sectors, such as hospitality, to stop workers leaving the sector.
