Commenting on a new Age UK report estimating that 54,000 people have died waiting for a care package since the government first said it would publish its social care green paper, George McNamara, Director of Policy and Influencing at Independent Age, said:
“Our social care system is becoming a national scandal of the government’s own making. Years of ministerial dilly-dallying and deep cuts to services has brought the social care system to its knees, causing immense distress to the most vulnerable.
“Every day, more than a million older people are denied vital care owing to service cuts and a system that doesn’t work for them. Sadly, we now know that for thousands, that help – help with essentials such as washing and dressing - never arrives.
“We want the Government to introduce Free Personal Care, which is supported by the public, to ensure older people are thriving, and not just surviving in later life. We need a social care system that meets the needs of an ageing population, not the minimum support required to get by.”