If you’re a football fan looking at the title of my leader today, perhaps you’re thinking I’ve gone a bit doolally and forgotten I’m the editor of a magazine for all involved in the design, build and construction of care homes, and am going to wax on about the World Cup. Happily for you, that’s not the case – not least because I’m no football expert so you won’t find any armchair punditry here.
I wouldn’t claim to be an expert in the care of older and vulnerable people either, although I’m far more knowledgeable than I was six months ago when I took over as editor at TCHE, thanks in no small part to experts who give up their time to talk about the issues and opportunities facing the sector at conferences and events aimed at growing and improving services. And it was one of those experts at a recent leadership summit organized by Care Shop who signalled that the Spanish approach to the challenge of an ageing population shift.
I learned that Spain offers useful lessons for UK policymakers and care home operators because it confronted population ageing and long-term care pressures earlier and more rapidly than many European countries. According to the UN Economic Commission for Europe, 21.6 per cent of Spain’s population is already aged 65 or over, rising to a projected 36.1 per cent by 2050, compared to around 19 per cent of the UK population was aged 65 or over in 2022, with projections suggesting this could rise to around 27 per cent by 2072
It responded with the creation of the System for Autonomy and Care for Dependency (SAAD) ten years ago through the 2006 Dependency Law, which established a universal, rights-based framework for long-term care, including residential care, home care, telecare and support for informal carers. Meanwhile, research has shown that its policymakers have increasingly sought to shift support towards community-based and home-based services while maintaining a continuum of care that includes residential settings.
Its focus on integrating care homes within a wider ecosystem of home care, telecare and preventative services rather than treating them as standalone providers, and efforts to prioritise personalised, person-centred care models and workforce development appear to chime with shifts underway as part of the current government’s Ten Year Health Plan.
But most importantly, its establishment of long term care as a universal right that’s accepted and supported by the population is key, and how this was achieved will be no doubt being examined closely by the Casey Commission has it prepares to gather and assess the public appetite for funding and delivery reform here in the UK.
I know we ‘ve been here before, but with an incoming PM who has very clearly and repeatedly backed a shake-up of adult social care and a Commission ready to accelerate its work laying the foundations for a National Care Service, perhaps this time it’s different. Unlike dejected England football fans this morning, we can’t afford four more years of hurt.
