The National Care Forum (NCF), the leading representative organisation for not-for-profit social care providers, welcomes the announcement by Care Minister Rt. Hon. Helen Whately MP, at the Science and Technology Committee and Health and Social Care Committee held today 13th October, in relation to the piloting of essential carers as key workers in care homes.
Vic Rayner, Executive Director at the National Care Forum says:
“NCF, alongside a wide range of partners, have been calling for this since June. It has been highlighted in sector wide Visitor Protocols and members have been exploring how this can work in practice for some time. Research from the UK (LESS COVID: Learning by Experience and Supporting the Care Home Sector during the COVID-19 pandemic) and other countries (The impact of COVID-19 measures on well-being of older long-term care facility residents in the Netherlands, J Am Med Dir Assoc, 2020) has shown just how important it is for people’s health and wellbeing to enable visits.
“The government must act quickly to move us to a place where this pilot comes into play, and we move to a situation across the country where the default assumption is that meaningful and regular visiting is a clear part of every resident’s care. For many, the decisions that are taken about visiting are life changing, and potentially life limiting. None of this is easy – but nothing that mattered ever was.”
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Note to Editors:
- The National Care Forum brings together 120 of the UK’s leading social care charities, representing large numbers of care providers, offering thousands of services across the country, which are not for profit and always at the heart of community provision. Collectively, these charities deliver more than £1.9 billion of social care support to more than 135,000 people in 6500 settings. The NCF membership body collectively employs more than 85,000 colleagues.
- More information is available on the National Care Forum at nationalcareforum.org.uk. @NCFCareForum @vicrayner @NCF_Liz
- LESS COVID: Learning by Experience and Supporting the Care Home Sector during the COVID-19 pandemic
- Van der Roest HG, Prins M, van der Velden C, Steinmetz S, Stolte E, van Tilburg TG, de Vries DH. The impact of COVID-19 measures on well-being of older long-term care facility residents in the Netherlands, J Am Med Dir Assoc, 2020, doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jamda.2020.09.007
- For enquiries, please contact Edna Petzen (edna.petzen@nationalcareforum.org.uk).
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