Labour calls for new approach to tackle social care crisis

Neil Duncan-Jordan, Labour's candidate for Poole has called for urgent action to tackle the crisis in social care.

Analysis of NHS data by charity Age UK, reveals that almost 30,000 people aged 65 and over died while waiting for social care in 2022/23, equivalent to 79 deaths per day. 

Mr Duncan-Jordan has written extensively about the problems with the social care system and has first hand experience of the failures in the system when looking after his own parents.

"There are long waits for people in hospital who can't get the support they need in their own homes and so have to stay on the wards. The sector is also plagued by low pay and insecurity, and at times poor standards of care. It's a scandal that in the 21st century older people are still losing their homes to pay for the care they need. My own father spent all his life's savings to pay for his dementia care home, but if he had been suffering from a physical illness that would have been paid for by the NHS. This unfairness needs to end now."

Mr Duncan-Jordan is calling for urgent reform of the social care system with the introduction of a National Care Service, immediate pay rise for care professionals and increased support for family carers.