This week in Parliament, Emma demanded that the Government took some responsibility for the adult social care crisis of their making. Emma asked the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government about regional variations in adult social care funding.
You can read Emma’s question and the Under Secretary’s poor response here.
The response totally failed to acknowledge that since 2010, £4.6 billion has been cut from the adult social care budget, resulting in 400,000 fewer people receiving publically funded care. Age UK have also found that that 1.2 million elderly people are currently not receiving the care they need. The consequences of their refusal to deliver adequate funding for social care has impacted on the NHS, crippling frontline services, increasing waiting lists and leaving people in hospital longer than necessary.
Research has found that 9 out of 10 councils in the UK are unable to afford the cost of adult social care. The series of cuts will hit some of the most vulnerable recipients of adult social care – specifically the elderly and disabled whose right to a dignified care system are not being met. Social care cuts have left over one million disabled people stranded whilst the elderly are experiencing loneliness and isolation leading to poor physical and mental health.
Speaking afterwards, Emma said “Once again the Tory benches refuse to accept the crisis they have created in our adult social care system refusing repeated calls from Labour for a properly integrated health and social care system and an additional £2 billion to be invested in social care. It is shamefully clear that the elderly, disabled and vulnerable do not matter to this Government”.