Our care home provision needs radical overhaul - YEP letters

Our care homes stagger from one disaster to another.
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Early in the pandemic they were seen as handmaidens to the NHS and left grossly unprotected from coronavirus, leading to a shocking 20,000 deaths in England and Wales.

Now we hear from Leeds Director of Adult Social Care (YEP, July 16, report from Adults and Health Scrutiny Committee) that we have 30 homes in Leeds where occupancy rates are so low they are not financially viable.

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Should they close down it would cause massive upheaval and upset for residents and relatives. Director Cath Roff is pressing for more funding for councils to support care homes, which is fine in the short term but what the pandemic has exposed is that current care home provision needs a radical overhaul.

Our care home provision needs radical overhaul - YEP lettersOur care home provision needs radical overhaul - YEP letters
Our care home provision needs radical overhaul - YEP letters

A recent study in Scotland found that smaller care homes had strikingly fewer outbreaks of coronavirus than larger homes.

Yet the privatisation of over 80 per cent of our care homes has led to equity firms steadily eating up smaller providers and building chains of homes with more than 60 beds to maximise profits.

The same Scrutiny Board heard that requests for home care have increased fourfold as more people vote with their feet to stay at home.

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Even without Covid, how many of us would choose to spend our final years in large institutions?

Most people would prefer to have reliable assistance at home or in supported housing, inclusive community facilities and where necessary, small cosy homes close enough for friends and neighbours to visit.

With the market in the driving seat of social care we’re heading for a crash.

We need a public, national care and support service free at the point of use as a sister service to the NHS which has service users in local communities at the heart of designing and developing provision - fit for purpose not for profit!

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