The NHS is one of the greatest things this country has ever done together.
It is a simple promise: everyone is looked after, everyone is treated equally, and care is free when you need it.
Eighty-odd years of investment in hospitals, GP surgeries and the people who work in them have given us one of the most comprehensive health services in the world.
But there is a gap in that promise. That gap is social care.
Too many older people end up losing their life savings, and sometimes cherished possessions, when they fall ill. Many are pushed into poverty through no fault of their own. Nobody should have to dread growing old, and nobody should lie awake worrying about their parents or grandparents. Looking after people in later life ought to be a national priority. Social care should give people dignity, support the life they want to live, and be available to everyone, whatever they have in the bank.
It doesn’t work well for the people who deliver it either. Our care system depends on brilliant care workers who are often underpaid, working in difficult conditions with few prospects for progression. Frankly, the current system doesn’t serve anyone well: not the workers, not the people who rely on care, and not the NHS.
That last point matters. Fixing social care will help the NHS. Better support means fewer ambulance call-outs, fewer A&E admissions, and fewer hospital beds taken up by people who shouldn’t be there and don’t want to be. A stronger care service means a stronger NHS for all of us.
The Prime Minister has asked Baroness Louise Casey to carry out a review and advise on exactly how and when we build the National Care Service. It will take time, but that’s as it should be. The NHS wasn’t built overnight, and we should develop this new service in partnership with residents, pensioners, charities and care providers. I’m looking forward to talking with people locally as part of Louise Casey’s National Conversation on Care, so please do get in touch and share your experiences.
This is a long-term plan to establish a free National Care Service in the next Parliament, built on the principle that everyone contributes and everyone benefits. It’s a better deal for pensioners and a new way of doing politics.
The Prime Minister has been clear that he will tackle this head-on and won’t let the same old politics get in the way of fixing social care.