Be under no illusion: Tory decisions are the root cause of the social care crisis

What happened at Oaks Court House in Wolverhampton recently was shocking. It was also completely preventable. All too quickly, media and political debate has moved on, but we must continue to put pressure on government to act. This year, the Wolverhampton care home was shut down by the local council after an inspection found dirty rooms, out-of-date food and residents being treated without dignity. In one of the most distressing incidents, an older person was left to sit in a pool of their own urine for 11 minutes before they received any support.

It’s easy to blame neglect like this on a single care home. But this is the symptom of a much bigger problem. Since 2010, the Conservatives have cut spending on adult social care by £86m. Our population is ageing rapidly, but the funding to look after older people has barely kept up. Already, we’ve seen several care homes in the Black Country close because financial difficulties left them with no other choice. Nursing homes that are struggling with the rising cost of living are also struggling to hold onto staff. 

Care work is important work, and the people who do it go above and beyond to support residents and their families. But poor pay, burnout and exhaustion are driving people to walk off the job. One in five residential care workers now live in poverty. Many are quitting the sector to take up less stressful, better paid roles in supermarkets, hospitality and hairdressing. With care work’s median hourly wage just £9.50 an hour, can you really blame them?

Care workers have been stretched to their limits by successive Conservative Prime Ministers who have failed to put people first. And it’s older people and their families who pay the ultimate price. Staff shortages were a key problem in three-quarters of all care homes in England that saw their ratings drop from good to inadequate. Even at Oaks Court House, which received its inadequate rating last month, residents still described the staff as “lovely” and “very kind”. But kindness alone can’t make up for the decade of underfunding. Or the knock-on effect that staff shortages have on an aged care sector in crisis. 

Older people can’t be sidelined any longer, they need change now. We need a government who truly wants to fix the care sector, delivering greater funding for councils and a decent wage for workers. A government that won’t pass the buck to private providers or refuse to take responsibility for the mistakes it made before, during and well into the pandemic.

We need a care system that works for people, not profit. Nursing homes belong in public hands. That is why Labour is talking about creating a National Care Service based on the same principles as the NHS. This is the sort of forward-looking idea that can solve the crisis in care. So the next time you hear news of appalling neglect in the care sector? Remember, this all began with decisions made in Downing Street.