Imagine a Britain where everyone can age well, where everyone’s needs and aspirations are met and their strengths are recognised. A Britain where care and caring are valued.
We know this is possible. It already happens in some places here and in other parts of the world. We believe it could and should happen for everyone wherever they live.
The Government has raised expectations through its recent announcement of a national insurance rise to pay for tackling the health backlog following Covid-19 and ‘fixing social care’.
This is an opportunity for everyone using and providing care to raise our game and push for better care. It’s also a challenge to leaders within and outside government to be bold and ambitious.
The Government’s forthcoming social care white paper is the perfect springboard to deliver better care. We want to offer constructive solutions to make it happen.
That’s why Hallmark Foundation has published a new paper, ‘Care 2030’, with six key priorities or ‘building blocks’ for better care so everyone can age well.
The paper offers a bold vision of a Britain where care is ‘a powerful force for good’, empowering and inspiring, meeting everyone’s needs and recognising their strengths.
The six priorities for action focus on choice and control, the care workforce, integration, housing, technology and family carers – all key issues as the Government prepares its social care white paper.
Recommendations in the paper include creating an Office for Care and Ageing Well which would monitor and report on unmet care needs in our ageing society and promote sustainable ways to deliver better care and prevention.
Other recommendations include a renewed drive to make direct payments work for older and disabled people using care; a focus on personal strengths and relationships; imaginative approaches to recruiting and developing care workers and future leaders; improvements in developing lifelong homes and supporting family carers; and a smooth transition from children’s care services to adult support.
The recommendations stem from analysis in the paper of growing unmet demand for care, an underfunded system that increasingly focuses on crisis care, and a largely poorly trained and paid workforce. Together these factors mean that care often fails to provide basic support let alone a decent quality of life and opportunities to live a fulfilling life.
Setting up an Office for Care and Ageing Well is a key step towards ensuring that the widening care gap is closed.
The ‘Care 2030’ paper has been published as the Hallmark Foundation launches a new website, setting out our funding priorities for investing in the future of care so everyone can age well. Hallmark Foundation will focus on supporting and growing the care workforce of today and tomorrow, supporting family carers, and improving the quality of care, particularly for people with dementia.
The Foundation has been working with the Care Workers’ Charity to support the workforce through the pandemic. Now we are backing the charity’s mental health support service for care workers which offers unparalleled free advice and counselling.
We also want to help grow and nurture the care workforce and develop the next generation of care professionals. This includes promoting working in care with students in schools and supporting the new Social Care Leaders Scheme which is attracting wide-ranging interest.
There is a lot to do. We are optimistic about the future and the potential for change. Hallmark Foundation will be doing our bit to change care. We will be working with partners within and outside the social care sector to deliver Care 2030.
‘Care 2030’ can be downloaded from the Hallmark Foundation website www.hallmarkfoundation.org.uk
stephen.burke@hgf.org.uk @HallmarkFDN
