Tim Loughton MP for East Worthing & Shoreham met with older people from across the country at an event in Parliament organised by the charity Age UK.
The event focused on older people’s views of social care and is part of Age UK’s campaign for a better social care system.
As part of this campaign Age UK has been organising focus groups across the country, speaking to older people and their carers about their experience of the care system and what changes they would like to see from the government’s consultation this summer.
Age UK’s new report from this work was launched at the reception and included the top five problems they heard at every listening event:
- The quality of care people receive too often just isn’t good enough
- Too many professional carers are in a rush and there’s no continuity
- Social care is very expensive and often not good value for money
- Many family carers feel abandoned and unsupported by the NHS and social care
- The social care system is dysfunctional and navigating it is too difficult
The reception was a chance for MPs to meet with older people to discuss how best to improve the care system to address these problems and the event also included speeches from care minister Caroline Dinenage MP and shadow social care minister Barbara Keeley MP.
You can read more about Age UK’s report and read it in full here.
Tim said:
"It is a wonderful thing that people are living longer and it’s thanks to the NHS that people are doing so. However there is clearly a need to find a way to support a population that is living longer. As problems go, it’s a good problem to have. I for one will always celebrate the fact that we are all living longer.
"How we fund social care is a big issue too and one the government and we as a country need to decide upon, in particular how much we are willing to spend to care for ourselves and our loved ones and how much we want to pay to the government in taxes to look after us in old age.
"The debate for long-term funding will carry on but in the meantime we need to ensure that those in receipt of social care right now are receiving the best possible care and where they are not this needs to be rectified urgently.
"We should be helping everyone to make the most of later life, which is why Age UK's programme of listening to views of patients is so important."
Caroline Abrahams, Age UK Charity Director, said:
“Some of the stories told at these events were harrowing and the distress of those adult children and family carers who were struggling and often failing to secure really good, consistent care for the older people they loved so much was tangible and moving. Everyone wanted politicians to act and improve social care services now, as well as providing more financial and practical support for unpaid carers.”
“These older people and their family carers have thrown down the gauntlet to some of our leading politicians to resolve the terrible problems of the adult social care system, once and for all, and we can only hope that they listen and respond.”