It has been announced that West Suffolk MP Matt Hancock is the new secretary of state for health and social care.
Vic Rayner, executive director of NCF says of the appointment: “This is an absolutely critical time for social care, with the promise of a green paper in the autumn, the development of a joint workforce strategy between health and social care and, of course, the need to influence treasury plans in the forthcoming Comprehensive Spending Review. We need the new secretary of state to raise his voice immediately for social care, and highlight the critical contribution of social care to the overall health and wellbeing of the nation.”
She continues: “For too long the role of social care has been in the shadow of health, and we need the new leadership of this Department to recognise not only the existing challenges of social care provision – but also the very real opportunities for transformation that exist – in order to ensure we have a social care system that meets the needs of all communities for many years to come.”
“The scale of the challenge facing social care and the people who the sector supports is well documented. We need the new secretary of state to show leadership and bite the bullet to address the immediate funding challenge, and crucially ensure that we have a green paper that is bold and visionary with people at it’s heart. Not a day more must be lost,“ she adds.
Michael Voges, executive director of The Associated Retirement Community Operators (ARCO), the main body representing the retirement community sector in the UK, agrees: “We are hopeful that the new secretary of state will bring a renewed focus on the social care aspect of his brief.
"Retirement communities have been shown to be highly beneficial to maintaining the mental and physical wellbeing of older people. They can also support the efficient delivery of health and social care and help to reduce the strain on the health system by reducing hospital admissions and lengths of stay. Retirement communities must be part of the answer to the big questions Mr Hancock will be grappling with in the years ahead.”
