NHS health chiefs demand an ‘urgent’ plan to tackle the social care crisis

Healthcare leaders have called for an urgent plan to tackle the social care crisis, warning Rishi Sunak there is “clear concern” over an ongoing failure to tackle staff shortages.

The warning from Matthew Taylor, chief executive of NHS Confederation which represents hospitals and community services, comes after the publication of the long-awaited £2.4bn NHS workforce plan, which committed to 300,000 extra nurses and doctors in the coming years.

Mr Taylor said any benefits to improve NHS staffing will be “limited” without an equivalent strategy for the social care sector, which currently has 165,000 vacant posts.

Health bosses, represented by NHS Confederation, have now written to the prime minister asking for “urgent intervention” and calling for a clear plan for improving pay and conditions to attract staff.

Martin Green, chief executive for Care England that represents care homes, warned that the sector “is in the midst of a workforce crisis, which is going to get worse not getting better”.

He welcomed the NHS Confederation’s letter and said unless similar improvements were made within social care, there would be more “cancelled operations, more people languishing in hospital when they don’t need to and the whole breakdown of the system”.

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Source: The Independent, 2 July 2023