Louise Casey: social care is held together by ‘sticking plasters and glue’

Baroness Louise Casey said the social care sector is failing to meet people’s needs and ‘others are met late and in piecemeal and random ways.’

On Thursday afternoon, Baroness Louise Casey – the head of a government-commissioned review into adult social care – said the UK is facing a ‘moment of reckoning’ over its failure to meet the needs of Britain’s ageing population. 

Casey has been tasked with turning the government’s plan for a national care service into policy. She said her latest review was examined through ‘the lens of the adult and their family who need social care’. 

She said: ‘The challenge for all of us is to get this right and it is a collective one. How do we ensure that care and support is available for those who need it in a fair, dignified way that reflects the nation and the values that we hold dear today? It is a moment for reckoning. It is a moment of renewal.’

Against this backdrop, Casey called on the government to act immediately to address current failings. This includes establishing a national adult safeguarding board, introducing a full-time dementia tsar and creating a new fast-track passport for people diagnosed with motor neurone disease (MND).

Meanwhile, the Baroness also highlighted: ‘This divide between what is care and what is health does not exist to the public. It is our divide. It is not about what is best for the patient or the person. 

‘Put simply, social care does not start and end with a social worker doing an assessment, or you ending up in a care home.’ 

Since Casey delivered her speech, social care experts have shared their views, some of which are highlighted below. 

Kari Gerstheimer, CEO of Access Social Care 

‘Baroness Louise Casey gave her first speech setting out her assessment of England’s adult social care system since taking on the role of chair of the independent commission on adult social care.

‘Speaking at the Nuffield Conference, she described the experience of trying to access care as ‘horrendous’ and said the current system is ‘cobbled together and confusing’, warning that it is also reliant on the exploitation of its workforce. 

Caroline Abrahams, Charity Director at Age UK

‘This is arguably the first time that someone as senior, respected and independent as Baroness Casey has been prepared to tell the truth about the state of social care in our country, and the extent to which it does – or all too often doesn’t – work constructively with the NHS to meet people’s needs. She was also brutally honest about our national failure to face up to what it means to have an ageing population, something with which Age UK strongly agrees.

‘It shouldn’t have needed Baroness Casey to have said these things today to jerk our policymakers out of their protracted slumber, but now that she has it sets the tone for the rest of her commission’s work. By saying what she did she is also laying down a challenge to government and to all politicians who aspire to take power to get much more serious in their responses on social care.’

Michelle Dyson CB, Chief Executive Officer at Alzheimer’s Society

‘We wholeheartedly welcome Baroness Casey shining a light on dementia and the challenges faced by people living with this devastating condition. Dementia is the biggest health and social care challenge of our time and prioritising it is long overdue.