On 13 December, the Telegraph newspaper launched their Justice for the Elderly campaign, demanding ‘radical reforms to ensure that elderly and disabled people are treated with dignity in a care system the public can trust’.

The campaign is calling for:

• Proper training for care workers
• Properly licensed and paid care workers
• Better regulation of care services
• A new, national, highly publicised care advice service

Find out more about the campaign here: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/elderhealth/11292329/Justice-for-the-Elderly-The-Telegraphs-goals.html

In response, Richard Hawkes, Chair of the Care & Support Alliance said:

“The care system is on its knees.

“One-in-three people have experience of care – but polling shows that the public has no confidence in the system.

“Standards in the care system are a serious issue, but only one part of the problem.

“The bigger issue is that chronic underfunding has seen dramatic year-on-year rationing of social care support for older and disabled people.

“Every day, our organisations hear horror stories of people who struggle to get the support they need to simply to get up, get dressed and get out of the house. This has a huge impact on carers, who we know are struggling right now.

“The health service picks up the pieces when people become isolated, can’t live on their own and slip into crisis.

“As more and more of us need care, and fewer and fewer of us get it, the Government needs to fund care properly, as well as the health system. As health experts argue, anything else is a false economy.”