Tragedy of social care in the Corona crisis must see change in the future

The social care sector has been hard hit by the Corona virus, exposing the inadequacy of the system and the appalling way that the workers have been treated.

Whilst deaths in hospitals have been a daily feature of media coverage of the pandemic, the same figures hae only recently been provided for those dying in care homes or the community.

The care sector, like the NHS, has lacked the Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) for staff, which has caused real concerns. Care provision companies have struggled to get supplies.

A poll conducted by Survation on behalf of the GMB union for ITV news found  that 85% of care workers felt their health was being put at risk due to lack of Personal Protective Equipment, with 99% not being tested.

One in five of care workers were found to have considered quitting over lack of PPE.

Some 50% of the care workforce are on zero hours contracts, paid the minimum wage.

The dangers of spreading infection due partly to the contractual arrangement were obvious.

Under zero hours contracts if a worker does not come to work they do not get paid. Their hours are also subject to the whim of the employer so failure to be available can also result in hours being reduced.

Hardly surprising then to find in another poll conducted for Unison in the North West that care workers were not self-isolating, for fear of not being paid.

The loved ones of those in care homes and receiving care in the community have rightly become increasingly alarmed by the situation.

There is now more light being thrown on the situation in the care sector, so hopefully things will improve. However, going forward there needs to be fundamental reform of social care. As former Labour health secretary and now Mayor of Manchester Andy Burnham has highlighted, social care needs to be brought up on a par with the NHS.

At present it is very much the poor relation. Health and social care need to be seen as the one service, interlinked and funded by general taxation. The sector needs to cease to be an area where workers are exploited, with proper terms of employment and pay being provided.

Social care is an area that successive governments have promised to fix but never got round to. Now the Corona pandemic has laid bare the weaknesses, with patients suffering and dying, whilst poorly paid staff go to work for fear of their lives. This has to change, moving to a properly funded and valued care service in the future.