Fixing social care is the key to saving NHS
Much like the rest of the developed world we have an aging population. And, just like nations, such as Japan, the United States and the vast majority of the European Union who also have a population whose average age is becoming increasingly older, that demographic has far more complex health conditions than younger generations. This, of course, has increased pressure on social care services across all these countries. This is not to say of course that our younger generations do not have complex or difficult healthcare requirements that have also increased pressure – the need for more mental health support amongst young people is particularly concerning.
Unfortunately, the solution previous governments used to delay the issue of increasing needs of social care was to turn to hospitals. This may have worked had the policy of austerity, implemented under the Tories, not stretched our hospitals almost to breaking point, something I witnessed first-hand when working in the NHS for 22 years.
Unlike here in Britain, neighbouring countries do not have to outsource their social care issues into hospitals. They invested properly and steadily overtime and committed to long term healthcare policies. Therefore, they are not having to stretch other sectors in order to find a solution to issues with social care. Most of our G20 counterparts have not had to endure a decade-and-a-half of austerity and cuts to the public sector.
In America, President Obama chose to extend Medicare and Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act (2010) to wider sections of the population, making it easier for everyone to access medication and treatment. Similarly, President Biden followed suit and made further reforms to Medicare – capping prices for medication in his Inflation Reduction Act. Although the American system is far from perfect – in fact, it is deeply flawed, these actions did at least show a recognition there was a need for reform and investment in healthcare at a time when their population is, just like ours, increasing in age.
In Europe we saw healthcare spending rise in line with GDP in most nations. Until 2010 we were making similar spending commitments to our peers regarding healthcare – in the 1990’s we were miles behind – by the end of the last Labour Government we had caught up and were overtaking some of our international peers. However, when the Tories took power in 2010 these spending commitments were cut – or ‘ringfenced’ to use the language of the Lib Dem-Tory Coalition Government – causing a huge backlog in NHS waiting times.
It is clear; therefore, we have a crisis in our social care sector – something I care deeply about and would like to use my time in Parliament to help fix in my role as co-chair of the APPG for Adult Social Care. I was pleased to see that the Government is definitely taking the extent of the crisis seriously. The recent announcements from the Department for Health and Social Care that we will have a new National Care Services – ensuring that the social care sector is held to the same standard as the NHS.
The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Wes Streeting, has correctly highlighted the need for reform in all areas of our healthcare system to tackle the ongoing issues across all sectors. Although the policy of cutting funding was not correct, neither is throwing good money after bad. Policies which have moved healthcare into a preventative approach, such as The Tobacco and Vapes Bill (2024), which will not only help alleviate NHS backlogs by preventing more immediate health issues caused by smoking such as cancer, but also issues that can be brought on in later life, such as Alzheimer’s Disease (which has been linked to vascular damage in the brain from smoking). The Mental Health Bill (2025), which will come into effect next year, will also help reshape social care policy – redefining and modernising our approach towards mental healthcare so it is fit for the 21st century.
It is also vital that we can take social care out of hospitals and into the community when we make these reforms. The Government’s new announcement of funding for social care, £2,875,054 of which will go to my constituent’s county of Kent, will create around 7,800 home adaptations – allowing people with disabilities and the elderly to come out of hospital safely to live and be cared for in their own homes with a level of dignity and independence. In the region of East Kent, where my Ashford Constituency sits, there was an average of 58 patients per day who could have been discharged last November. However, there was nowhere for them to go after they were discharged. As a result, they remained in hospital beds, which could have been used for more seriously ill patients. We will not solve the issue of NHS backlogs if we cannot safely discharge patients into their homes or the community.
Sojan Joseph has been the Labour Member of Parliament for Ashford since 2024. Previously, he served as a Councillor on Ashford Borough Council.
