Provider body issues call after report shows campaigns focused on a need to ‘fix’ a system in crisis or improve ‘wellbeing’ are not generating public support for reform
Organisations in the care sector must work together to ‘reshape public perception and drive change to fulfil its potential,’ a care leader has said.
Responding to report findings that show social care reform is a low priority for the public, Professor Martin Green has called for sector leaders to work together to improve how it communicates to external audiences.
In its response to the King's Fund report published this week, Care England said ‘conversations have come to feel stagnant’ over how to improve care for service users, care staff, and provider organisations.
Professor Green said, “reshaping public perception, social care reform and generating the political will to drive seed change for the sector” was the “largest underappreciated challenge beyond staffing shortages or funding settlements.”
His comments come after a Kings Fund analysis of data since 2011 highlighted the public’s current prioritisation of ‘social care for the elderly’ as a major issue facing the country is at a “record low” of 1-3 per cent depending on age group, compared to nearly half highlighting immigration (47 per cent), a third the economy (33 per cent) and almost a quarter the NHS (24 per cent).
The think-tank said its status as an important issue to the public has “fallen sharply” since the Covid pandemic, as people are preoccupied with other concerns such as the “cost of living, jobs and immigration.”
This is partly underpinned by widespread misunderstanding that care for older and disabled people is provided by the NHS and/or free at the point of need, the King's Fund said.
To ‘break the logjam’ the organisation called for “more effort” to be put into “cross party dialogue” to give “future politicians ‘air cover’ for social care reform proposals, as well as looking at using the 1.5m social care workforce as “ambassadors for change” and learn from providers “decades of experience” in marketing their services.”
The report said that perceptions could also be improved by “clearly and consistently” communicating tangible benefits of care that resonate with the public, such as shorter NHS waiting times and better-paid and trained staff.
It added that building support for reform will require the “hugely diverse and fragmented social care sector....to evolve towards a more evidence-based strategy” as a “call to fix the social care crisis” and winning support for improvement to wellbeing are unlikely to bring about reform by themselves.
