Seriously. We need an integrated health & social care system. Like some on this thread have said, the younger generation (me included) will be disproportionately affected in an already unstable economic environment.
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Seriously. We need an integrated health & social care system. Like some on this thread have said, the younger generation (me included) will be disproportionately affected in an already unstable economic environment.
The system needs reform, not more money being chucked down and wasted in the black hole of Government spending.
The UK's total tax take was £556 billion in 2020/2021, down from £634.6 billion in 2019/20 (source: Statista.com)
Health care spending in the UK was £159 billion this year, with an additional £22.4 billion allocated to it for Covid funding (source: Kings Fund).
How much more do people think we should be allocating to the NHS?
The NHS could easily swallow up the entire UK tax take, as described a few paragraphsback, if it were allowed to. There would then be no money for education, defence, local government, police, fire, etc, etc.
People need to get real with the expectations of the NHS and what it should be delivering and to whom.
I agree the NHS needs a huge structural overhaul (worked in the NHS - too many managers for a start). I feel we see social care as individualisation rather than it being viewed as a collective need for society - good care = health. I know the problem goes much deeper than money.
It’s just going to get sucked into the juggernaut that is the NHS. An increase alone will not make any difference. A massive overhaul is what is needed. I think it’s a disguise to recoup some of the furlough payments .
It's like the banking system, just a plaster to trundle along for a bit longer. Not the reform that actually fixes the problems.
I agree better paid key workers and less managers and other hangers on.
Some of the care package quotes we've had in the last 6 months have ranged from 1k a week.... to 5k a week and my personal favourite of 13k a week.
Care homes were whinging at the Government over PPE last year.
If they have the cheek to charge £13k a week (blatant profiteering), then they should bloody well paid for their own private supplies of PPE.
Care homes seem to want to make big profits by ripping off the taxpayer - not on.
Totally agree with this sentiment about ‘paying dues’. Not everyone has! My mother in law is 90 and has never worked - she is a poster child for a 50’s housewife and yet she absolutely rakes in money from her pension! There will be a fair few like this because of the generational standards set for woman
Also, the gap between carers allowance and the cost of care homes per week is just utterly unacceptable. How can it be justifiable to pay £79 a week for carers (and only get that as long as you don’t earn £140+ a week) and yet care homes will charge from roughly £750 plus a week? It’s obscene. I don’t know what the answers are but I’m getting sick of hearing ‘we paid our dues’ when it’s been pointed out you paid what you were asked - and it wasn’t enough and now the younger generations have to mop up behind!
Jeremy Vine on radio 2 had a discussion on this too. He had a lady on and she was explaining about the 86k rule. The 86k is for the medical care I my that is needed , it does not cover and include meals and accommodation. Her point was that even if 86k has already been spent on fees the resident/patient will still be liable for the other costs each month. She said that she still thinks that long term people that need to stay in care homes for a long period of time will have to sell their homes still to pay. It’s not as straightforward as it seems.
I do think lots of people are totally unaware that they've taken out far more than they ever paid in. They often think unless you've claimed unemployment benefits you've never receive a penny.
I think lots don't realise it's not for the total package. Presumably the care element is the most expensive?
I personally we need to get out of the mindset that selling (exchanging) your home for accomodation services suitable as you get older is an outrage. But it does get muddy that it's all interwoven with for profit companies.
Headlines that the funding won't even touch the sides.
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My friend works for one of these care home companies . They have loads of managers and other roles while the care workers earn £9 an hour ..
A care home assistant should be getting at least £15 an hour, in my opinion. Especially as many of these homes charge extortionate rates.
Private equity firms are (once again) an issue. Not content with maximising profit, reducing costs and loading debt onto the High Street; The care sector is now another they have gotten their grubby mits on.
Care homes: why investment firms can be bad owners
The UK government is about to reform social care, but the focus is likely to be on funding, not the companies that are allowed to have a stake in the sector.
theconversation.com
I for one DO NOT want my money, nor taxpayer money funding these shysters.
Care homes should be NOT FOR PROFIT.
A care home assistant should be getting at least £15 an hour, in my opinion. Especially as many of these homes charge extortionate rates.
Private equity firms are (once again) an issue. Not content with maximising profit, reducing costs and loading debt onto the High Street; The care sector is now another they have gotten their grubby mits on.
Care homes: why investment firms can be bad owners
The UK government is about to reform social care, but the focus is likely to be on funding, not the companies that are allowed to have a stake in the sector.
I for one DO NOT want my money, nor taxpayer money funding these shysters.
Care homes should be NOT FOR PROFIT.
A lot of them disguise themselves as charities - Another sector that needs regulating to make sure they don't have CEO's on 6 times the wage of some staff.
That needed reform decades ago!
The current government and the previous one have done nothing when care homes were sold off to private equity, asset stripped and then came back begging for money because people would suffer if they weren't given more cash.
Maybe I could have supported tax raises if there was at least an effort to reform it just a tiny bit.