News - Debates

Vote Leave, Campaign to leave the EU
YES With the UK free to make its own decisions, the care sector will be boosted financially with the Government able to give tax breaks to investors and zero rate VAT. Some in the care sector have voiced concerns over how Brexit will further exacerbate the recruitment crisis...

Britain Stronger In Europe, Campaign to remain in the EU
NO The health and social care sector is heavily reliant on foreign workers. A fifth of the 1.5m care workers in the UK are foreign with the figure rising to a half in some cities, according to King's College London's Social Care Workforce Research Unit. The fear is that without...

Richy Thompson, Campaigns manager for the British Humanist Association
YES, The British Humanist Association (BHA) is a national charity working on behalf of non-religious people who seek to live ethical and fulfilling lives on the basis of reason and humanity. BHA has long supported attempts to legalise assisted dying, assisted...

Mark Atkinson, Interim chief executive at disability charity Scope
NO, Scope, a national disability charity, is opposed to a change in the law on assisted dying. The charity has suggested that the safeguards in the Assisted Dying Bill are inadequate and the definition of who could be included is too broad. The Bill refers to...

Jeremy Hughes, chief executive, Alzheimer's Society
YES NHS England has launched a new initiative where it will pay GPs £55 for each time they diagnose a person with dementia. The scheme has attracted both criticism and support. Jeremy Hughes, chief executive at Alzheimer’s Society, believes the end justifies the means and if...

Katherine Murphy, chief executive, Patients Association
NO Katherine Murphy, chief executive of the Patients Association, is dead against the scheme calling it “a step too far” that could lead to a “bounty on the head” of certain patients. She said that good GPs are diagnosing their dementia patients already and that the new scheme...

Heléna Herklots, chief executive of Carers UK
YES The controversial bedroom tax, which came into effect last year, taxes people living in social housing with more bedrooms than occupants. Under the new policy, people with one ‘spare’ bedroom in their council or housing association home lose 14 per cent of their housing benefit...

Iain Duncan Smith, Work and Pensions Secretary
NO The Government claims nearly one third of working-age social housing tenants on housing benefit are living in accommodation too big for their needs. Iain Duncan Smith said: “There are about 400,000 working age households on housing benefit in under-occupied social housing...

Trevor Brocklebank, chief executive of Home Instead Senior Care
YES The Government’s plans to replace face to face GP appointments with consultations on Skype or iPads but there is the fear that it could increase the isolation and loneliness felt by those who are housebound. Trevor Brocklebank is worried the Government will bring in reforms...

Andrew Graley, healthcare director at Polycom EMEA, a provider of video conferencing equipment
NO Mr Graley believes criticism of the reforms is down to fear of change. He says: “People like to stick with the familiar, so it’s no surprise that for many of us, the initial reaction is to reject Jeremy Hunt’s initiative. At the same time, telemedicine has already proven...

Philip Connelly, policy manager at Disability Rights UK
Yes Disability campaigners have criticised the Government’s announcement that over a million disabled are actually fit to work, claiming it is causing the public to see people with disabilities as ‘workshy scroungers’. Philip Connelly policy manager at...

Mike Penning, Minister of State for Disabled People
No It is better to see if people with disabilities can work with support and give them more independence, rather than writing them off as on long-term sickness benefits, according to the Government. The Government has announced over one million disabled...

Trevor Brocklebank, chief executive officer, Home Instead Senior Care
YES Home Instead Senior Care’s minimum call out time is one hour. Chief executive, Trevor Brocklebank, would like to see the Government abolishing 15 minute visits and stipulating at least half an hour for a home care visit. He says: "One of the central tenets of the care...

Felicity Hindson, executive member for adult social care, Hampshire County Council
NO A survey by the United Kingdom Homecare Association found that in England, nearly three quarters (73 per cent) of homecare visits commissioned by councils are for periods of 30 minutes or less, with one in ten (10 per cent) visits commissioned for 15 minutes or less. Councillor...

Norman Lamb, Care and Support Minister
YES The care funding reforms announced in July by Care and Support Minister Norman Lamb are designed to give peace of mind to adults with savings less than £118,000. Mr Lamb explains: “These reforms bring reassurance to millions of people by ending the existing unfair system...

Bernard Walker, College of Social Work
NO Bernard Walker, chair of the College of Social Work's adult faculty expressed deep concerns that the funding may prove ineffective, saying: “We strongly question whether local authorities will be able to cope with the anticipated half-a-million extra people coming forward for...

George Osborne, Chancellor of the Exchequer
YES In his spending review the Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne announced that the Government will be investing an extra £3.8bn to integrate health and social care. He said that the investment will improve services for people requiring social care in the community. Mr...

Mike Padgham, United Kingdom Home Care Association
NO However the United Kingdom Home Care Association (UKHCA), the professional association for home care providers has highlighted its view that the changes put for forward by the Chancellor could have a negative impact on both home care providers and service users. UKHCA chair...

Suzie Mitchell, police sergeant at Sussex Police
Yes – it stops family carers worrying and keeps patients safe Sussex Police has joined a number of local authorities in investing in GPS tagging devices for dementia patients that can be worn around their neck, clipped to a belt or put on a set of house keys. It works through...

Dot Gibson, general secretary for National Pensioners Convention
No – using tags on dementia patients is treating like criminals The National Pensioners Convention (NPC) has condemned the move as “just about saving money rather than treating people with dignity”. Dot Gibson, NPC general secretary said: “This action shows how the social care...

Esther McVey, Minister for Disabled People
YES MP Esther McVey, the Minister for Disabled People, believes the Bill containing Personal Independence Payment (PIP) assessments amongst wider benefit reforms will prove important to adults with a disability. The minister comments: “I know that disabled...

Jane Young, from campaign group We Are Spartacus
NO Jane Young, of campaign group We Are Spartacus, judges the PIP system as unfair to the lives of disabled adults. In her ‘Emergency Stop’ report she writes: ‘1.8 million people of working age in the UK currently receive Disability Living Allowance (DLA),...

Robert Francis QC, chair of the Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust Inquiry
YES Among the key recommendations from the Francis Inquiry into care failings at the Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust, published this week, is the proposal that England’s care sector regulator the Care Quality Commission (CGC), should be merged with Monitor,...

Dr Jennifer Dixon, Nuffield Trust
NO Nuffield Trust chief executive Dr Jennifer Dixon welcomed to the work undertaken by the Inquiry but announced caution at the proposal of a merger between the two bodies, commenting: “There is much to commend in Robert Francis’s report and it is broadly...

Vidhya Alakeson, deputy chief executive of the Resolution Foundation, which is working to improve outcomes for people on low and modest incomes
Thousands of patients in England will soon have access to their own NHS personal health budgets giving them more control over the type of treatment they receive. The scheme is designed to help patients who have complex conditions and require care and support. However in the pilot...

Mo Smith, founder and chair of trustees of Regenerate-RISE, which is working to eradicate isolation among elderly people in the UK
Mo Smith believes it is unfair to put the onerous responsibility of personal health budgets onto older people. She says: “I think it is unfair to give older people the responsibility of being an employer as there is a high risk of them being taken advantage of. Generally speaking...

Lindsey Edgehill, marketing director, Helping Hands
HOME CARE “Residential care homes are a crucial part of the UK’s elderly care portfolio and without them the country would not be able to adequately care for its elderly, but it’s important that families understand that alternatives to residential care homes, such as care at home...

Geoff Lane, chief executive, Regal Care Trading Ltd
RESIDENTIAL CARE “It is undoubtedly true that when we reach an age where we need additional help, the vast majority of people would wish to stay in their own home in familiar surroundings. In many instances this works well but the reality today for too many people is that they are...