ADASS responds to Andy Burnham’s speech on social care reform

In response to Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s announcement today on adult social care reform, Phil Holmes, ADASS President, said:

“After decades in which adult social care has been left unresolved by successive governments, the Prime Minister’s willingness to face this difficult but necessary work head on is the leadership the sector has been asking for. Baroness Casey has similarly been a revelation in her strong and principled leadership, zeroing in relentlessly on what matters most. The Big Conversation on Care that Baroness Casey will establish feels critical. Previous discussions about reform have foundered on issues of funding and organisational leadership without first having established what care actually means to people as they seek to live well and to age well.

“The opportunities from reforming the adult social care system are huge. Supporting the NHS is a key role of adult social care and helping people leave hospital safely is just one of our many functions. Without the skilled and dedicated effort of thousands of adult social care workers every hour of every day, the NHS would have fallen over long ago. However adult social care’s impact (as an essential part of local government) is much broader than that. The support provided to the NHS in general and hospitals in particular is a great starting point for the discussion but the impact of adult social care, and the potential opportunities from reforming it, are much greater.

“We need to move beyond the language of crisis. People working in adult social care do great work every day, making a difference up and down the country. The issue is they, like people who need care, are all too often having to swim against the tide of our health and care system. The Prime Minister is clearly determined to turn the tide and ADASS looks forward to continuing to work with both the Prime Minister and Baroness Casey to make this happen.”