Karolina Gerlich, CEO of The Care Workers’ Charity, has responded to Lord Darzi’s Independent Investigation into the NHS in England. “As the report acknowledges, it is impossible to address the challenges facing the NHS without recognising its deep interconnectedness with social care. I was not surprised to see that 13% of NHS beds are occupied by individuals waiting for social care support. The care workforce does an amazing job, but there are too many vacancies and insufficient funding.
While outside of the remit of this report, it was still encouraging to see social care recognised as a vital service in its own right. We have long advocated for social care to be viewed not just as a support system for the NHS, but as an essential part of our society. Now social care must be given the same attention as the NHS—one cannot function without the other, and both are crucial for people to lead healthy, happy, and independent lives.
The good news is that the social care sector is filled with skilled professionals who have compassion, care and kindness to support people to live the lives they want to live. Expertise and answers already exist within the sector, and we want to work collaboratively with the government to shape future policies that benefit both those working in and those drawing on social care and the NHS.”