Care group launches petition for better adult social care

The Independent Care Group (York and North Yorkshire) has launched a petition calling on all political parties to prioritize social care funding for older people ahead of the General Election.

The social care group wants all political candidates to support the care provided for older and vulnerable adults, saying that campaigns in the lead up to the election have lacked information on what the parties intend to do to support the country’s aging population.

The group’s chair, Mike Padgham said: “We are just days away from the General Election and we aren’t hearing nearly enough about how would-be MPs plan to care for the country’s older and vulnerable adults.

“We want people to sign up to this petition and show election candidates just how important social care is for the future.”

Last month the group launched its own manifesto calling for ring fenced funding for social care provision, fully integrated health and social care and a cabinet post created for health and social care.

Mr Padgham continued: “Since 2010, £3.5bn has been taken from the social care system due to cuts to local authority budgets, leaving vast numbers of people without the care they need in care homes or their own home.

“And all the time the Government is calling for standards of care to improve, whilst starving the sector of the money it needs to survive, let along improve. If we want social care to improve we will have to support it and fund it properly.”

The group also want politicians to commit to creating incentives to improve care standards and to ensure that a system is created that means people don’t have to sell their homes to pay for care. The Independent Care Group petition can be found on the change.org website or at: http://chn.ge/1c3uPOQ