The Homecare Association has called on the new Prime Minister to fulfil the Conservative Party’s promise to ‘fix social care’ by investing in homecare and developing a credible workforce strategy.
The Homecare Association has written to the Rt Hon. Rishi Sunak MP, to congratulate him on his appointment as Prime Minister, highlighting that his leadership is needed to ensure adequate availability of homecare services this winter and beyond to protect the NHS and support people in the community.
In the community, unmet need is high and rising. Councils have waiting lists for assessments for care of more than half a million. Over 1.6 million people need support and care at home and are unable to access it due to inadequate funding and workforce capacity. Neglecting people in the community until a crisis point is reached results in avoidable suffering and adds further pressure and cost to overstretched emergency and acute healthcare services.
A quarter of delayed discharges from hospital are due to people waiting for homecare, as there is a critical shortage of homecare workers. This hampers the ability of hospitals to admit new patients, contributing to increased ambulance response times and NHS waiting lists of over 7 million.
Investment in homecare and community support will allow us to grow and develop the workforce and innovate, so we can enable people to live well at home, extend healthy life expectancy, reduce inequalities, take pressure off the NHS and reduce costs for the health and care system.