Call for reform of the funding of social care
10/12/2019
Today, Tuesday 10 December, the Richmond Group of Charities published a letter in the Times calling for reform of the funding of social care.
" Sir, As the Richmond Group of Charities we are working to support more than 19.4 million people in England living with longstanding health conditions, each of whom needs and deserves good-quality health and care services. However, this goal is being undermined by a social care system at breaking point. More than 2.2 million people with a longstanding health condition now live without the care and support they need to maintain their health and wellbeing, thus piling pressure on the NHS.
The situation is now desperate. The next government must provide the additional £8 billion in funding that independent experts agree the care system urgently needs to pull it back from the brink, and bring forward credible plans to place it on a secure footing for the future."
Liam O’Toole, chairman, Richmond Group of Charities, and CEO, Versus Arthritis; Caroline Abrahams, charity director, Age UK; Kay Boycott, CEO, Asthma UK; Jeremy Hughes, Chief Executive, Alzheimer’s Society; Baroness Morgan, CEO, Breast Cancer Now; Simon Gillespie, CEO, British Heart Foundation; Penny Woods, CEO, British Lung Foundation; Michael Adamson, Chief Executive, British Red Cross; Chris Askew, CEO, Diabetes UK; Lynda Thomas, CEO, Macmillan Cancer Support; Nick Moberly, CEO, MS Society; Brian Dow, Deputy CEO, Rethink Mental Illness; Catherine Johnstone, CEO, Royal Voluntary Service; Juliet Bouverie, CEO, Stroke Association
The Richmond Group of Charities is a collaboration of 14 of the leading health and social care organisations in the voluntary sector, these include Rethink Mental Illness, Age UK, Stroke Association and British Hear Foundation. For more information about the work of the Richmond Group, please visit https://www.richmondgroupofcharities.org.uk/