Labour has called for the UK government to create a ‘Chief Care Officer’ position in a letter to Health Secretary Matt Hancock that sets out six action points to address the growing Covid-19 crisis faced by social care.
Shadow social care minister Liz Kendall urged the government to establish a chief care officer position to sit alongside the Chief Medical Officer and Chief Nursing Officer, who would help “provide the national leadership, focus and attention social care deserves throughout this pandemic and beyond”.
The letter also called for action on a new intermediate care strategy for people being discharged from hospital who test positive for Covid-19, and to support struggling care homes.
Labour also urged the government to: grant improved access to, and priority testing for social care workers; guarantee all care workers get the PPE they need; ensuring social care has “whatever resources it takes” to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic; and daily reporting of Covid-19 deaths outside hospital, including in care homes.
Commenting on new CQC and ONS statistics on deaths from Covid-19, Kendall said: “These new figures show the devastating impact Covid-19 is having on care homes, and will be desperately worrying for residents, their families, and staff.”
She added: “Urgent action is needed to get a grip of this problem. That is why I have today written to the Health Secretary outlining six areas where further steps should be taken to help protect care users and staff, and help bring these appalling death rates down.”
