Prime Minister Andy Burnham has indicated he would prefer to “fix” palliative and social care before committing Parliamentary time to the assisted dying debate as part of his efforts to reform social care.
In a speech on social care this week at Golders Green, Burnham decried the 30 year period since the Royal Commission on Social Care, describing the failure of Parliament to face up to the challenges presented by social care as a “dereliction of duty”, adding it was “shameful, to be honest, that politicians have put point scoring before fixing this issue.”
After the previous private members bill brought by Kim Leadbetter ran out of time, a new bill is reported to be being proposed by Labour MP Lauren Edwards.
In bringing the political parties together, Burnham said he was trying to launch a big conversation, and bring “essential” reform “not only for the estimated 2m adults adults in England who reportedly have unmet care needs, but also for the long-term future of the NHS.
Outlining how social care and the NHS were “intrinsically linked” Burnham said around 6m over 65’s attend accident and emergency departments in hospitals across the country every year. Some of those will be from a social care setting; in 2010 that figure was roughly half, around 3m.
As part of the reform programme Baroness Casey has this week launched the Big Conversation on Care said the government. Open to everyone through a new online platform, it will ask people to share their thoughts on the values and principles they expect from a care system, as well as some of the tough questions around fairness and funding. The Health and Social Care Secretary will chair a new ministerial group to accelerate the government’s response on social care, including workforce, system reform and delivery of the Commission’s first recommendations. This will include work towards appointing a Dementia Tsar later this summer said the government.
Thee timeline for Baroness Casey’s commission to report back with a plan on how to deliver a National Care Service would also be brought said Burnham, from 2028 to Summer 2027.
Concluding his speech, Burnham added there was a need for political consensus to drive through reform: “We’re going to do it with strength; we’re going to do it with resolution I’m going to work and reach out with the other political parties and that’s not just a passing statement today. That’s a commitment that I’m making today.”
