The Second Wave

Care England, the largest representative body for independent providers of adult social care, has called for care services to be placed at the forefront of future policy decisions in order to prepare for a second wave arguing that adult social care can no longer remain an addendum to the NHS.

Professor Martin Green OBE, Chief Executive of Care England, says:

“Ultimately, we are only as healthy as our most vulnerable.  The care sector must be adequately supported given that it is, and continues to be, the frontline of the Covid-19 pandemic”.

The Covid-19 pandemic has posed an array of unprecedented challenges to the adult social care sector. As we now move into ‘the new normal’ we must take account of these issues and reflect on what we have learned collectively in order to safeguard against the implications of a second wave of the virus.
It is vital to ensure that the policy mistakes made at the start of this crisis are not repeated; we cannot go back to a situation where political actors are unreactive to the needs of the independent adult social care sector. The next few months will continue to be difficult for care providers, with situation-specific, person-specific decision-making in a kaleidoscopically changing environment of relative risk. Emerging systems to manage the virus have been put in place as a result of the change Covid-19 has demanded. This impetus for change needs to be harnessed, not forgotten in order to facilitate a fully integrated health and social care system.

Martin Green continues:

“The Government cannot again invest vast amounts of its organisational capacity into the NHS whilst neglecting adequate consideration of the adult social care sector.  Nor should care providers ever be pressurised to admit untested individuals in order to preserve the structural integrity of the NHS.  What is required now is a different culture, one where success is measured in outcomes”.