We need your help…

We want you to submit your questions or comments for politicians

On 9th March we are hosting a roundtable in the presence of HRH The Princess Royal. Representatives of the three main political parties, including the Health Secretary, Andy Burnham, will be listening to the views of Carers’ Centres, carers and sector leaders and setting out their plans for carers should they be elected to government.

We’re interested in any question about carers and caring, but to remain impartial, your question will need to be one we can ask equally to all three party representatives.

We are also interested in very brief descriptions of a caring situation or problem that you think illustrates a challenge carers face.

The debate on social care has become extremely heated since we first planned this roundtable and we will be working hard to keep the discussion a measured and thoughtful one. We won’t be able to use questions that attack or praise a particular party or politician!

Please leave your questions in the comments section below.

Consensus on social care? Not yet…

This week we have seen social care everywhere in the news.

Our Chief Exec, Carole Cochrane, attended the much publicised care conference today, called by Secretary of State for Health, Andy Burnham, and attended by Lib Dem Shadow Health Minister, Norman Lamb, but boycotted by Conservative Shadow Health Minister, Andrew Lansley.

With all the major charities represented, the conference sounds like it was a much more sensible and thoughtful discussion than some of the stand up rows the politicians have been having recently.

The Tories have specifically ruled out a compulsory levy

The view of the majority of those represented at the conference is likely to add further fuel to the flames, however, because there appears to have been a consensus that some kind of universal (read: compulsory) insurance system was the best solution, or perhaps the least worst option would be more accurate.

This won’t go down well with the Conservatives who are favouring an opt-in solution and have specifically ruled out a compulsory levy, particularly one that you pay in inheritance tax after you die (the so-called “death tax”).

Neither option is perfect. People don’t really like compulsory systems – most of us keep our fingers crossed that we’ll never need to give or receive care, despite the overwhelming evidence to the contrary. Optional systems give more choice, but are much more expensive to buy into, because the risks are spread across a smaller group.

Our view is that whichever option is chosen (and let’s hope that, whoever wins this argument and the election, we do at least get one of these options in place, however imperfect), most care will continue to be provided by unpaid family carers.

Today’s conference agreed with us that, whichever option is chosen, as well as being able to pay to participate, the unpaid caring that you provide should also count, in lieu of a cash contribution. After all, people who care full time for years simply don’t have the same opportunities to build up income and savings.

It’s time that the political parties stopped focusing all of their energies on criticising each other’s ideas and instead came up with a decent offer to the UK’s six million carers.

Our sources tell us that one of the parties might be going to do just that on Monday…watch this space.

Take care,

Alex

Alex Fox, Director of Policy and Communications at The Princess Royal Trust for Carers, is standing in for Gordon on his blog this week.

Alex has written an article in Society Guardian this week on the “need for a clear emphasis on unpaid carers”.

NHS Operating Framework fails even to mention Carers Strategy: Time for Plan B

It’s never easy judging success, just witness the surprising winner of this year’s BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award. Now-a-days, it’s not what you put in or maybe even the way you do it, it’s the result that matters. And you cannot hide from results.

This year, the focus of my work has been trying to lobby Government regarding Primary Care Trusts’ (PCTs) use of the £50m allocated to provide breaks for carers. The desired outcome was to make the NHS Operating Framework for 2010/11 more explicit in its guidance to PCTs regarding supporting carers. This was our goal.

Carers cannot afford to be the loser again

To do this, we thought we needed to show that PCTs are not using the money as intended. So, we asked the local carers’ organisations of The Princess Royal Trust for Carers and Crossroads Care networks to tell us what was happening in their local area. It was clear there was confusion and sometimes a denial about the money and thus support for carers was not being increased.

We told Government, but they did not seem convinced…

So we asked our local networks to get their PCT to fill in a questionnaire giving financial details. Responses were not forthcoming so we then decided to submit the questionnaire under the Freedom of Information Act. During Carers Week, MPs questioned Government using our information and we wrote to the Chief Executive of the NHS, but both remained unmoved.

In September, we got widespread media coverage of our preliminary results showing PCTs were not using the money to increase support for carers. Then at the Party Conference, we spoke to Andy Burnham who said he wanted to speak when he got back from Conference.

While waiting, we published our report showing that only 23% of the £50m was used to increase support for carers. National TV, radio, newspapers and websites covered the story and it was the focus of a Health debate in the House of Commons.

Surely, they would listen now?

The meeting with Phil Hope was encouraging and two days before the Framework would be published, Burnham in a Commons debate said he was considering strengthening the Framework in relation to carers. The day it was due, I was glued to the Department of Health website. It popped up and I stuck “carers” into the search.

I was gutted and colleagues couldn’t believe it.

The Operating Framework does not even mention the Carers Strategy or that an allocation has been given to provide breaks. In my eyes, and those of others, it is not more explicit than last year’s. That was our goal and it is results that matter. We have a responsibility and in this we failed. I am sorry…

So now plan B. We will lobby commissioners, Strategic Health Authorities, Oversight & Scrutiny Committees, the Care Quality Commission, local authorities – anybody who will help us persuade PCTs to increase support for carers. The desired result? More than 23% of this year’s £100m is used to increase support for carers. Carers cannot afford to be the loser again.

Take care

Gordon

The Labour Conference and the Big Care Debate

The final Labour Conference before the election; would the tone be going out with all guns blazing a la Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid or one mired by infighting and every man for himself? In the ornate lobby of The Grand Hotel, it felt more like the Titanic with people denying the reality of a sinking ship.

At a meeting with Labour Ministers Phil Hope, Gillian Merron and Mike O’Brien, we were asked to imagine a world in which we had to deal with a Conservative Government. The Tories would listen and respond to us less we were told.

Phil Hope and Andy Burnham (Minister for Care Services & Secretary of State for Health) also spoke at a Big Care Debate event where it was repeated again that moving finances for Disability Living Allowance into social care budgets will not happen. However, it is clear that because of the ambiguity (see previous blog) in the Green Paper, the Big Care Debate has turned into a series of denials on a single part of the proposals.

Actual debate on other issues does not seem to be widespread, which is harming the chances of changing the social care system for the better. Millions of lives are affected by our social care system and millions more will be, but we as a general population are not engaging with this debate. Is it because we do not care, or is it because of a lack of knowledge?

I accept that whole family assessments does not make sexy news, but for families with multiple care needs this could be key to getting the support that is best for everybody and not just an individual (Phil Hope was very interested in this idea by the way). Perhaps most people have not considered whether there should be a single national assessment process or variable local ones, but surely this is highly relevant in a world where people move around more. Some may not know that you have to pay for social care and others may believe that they will never need it, but we should still be debating whether we should all pay regardless of whether we use social care or not.

Labour say the Tories won’t listen, but what are they meant to be listening to? I guess that is up to us all.

One thing we do want Labour to listen to is that PCTs are not using the £50m allocated to provide breaks for carers for that purpose. This is partly because of a lack of information given to PCTs by the Government. Secretary of State for Health Andy Burnham has said that he will listen and we are to set something up after the conference. However, listening is only one part, we want action. You can help by signing the carers breaks petition

Take Care

Gordon