Responding to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) report,
Reforming adult social care in England, Saffron
Cordery, deputy chief executive at NHS Providers said:
"This report shines a much-needed light on
the urgent need to reform adult social care, which has
been severely under-resourced for years.
"Successive governments' failure to tackle deep-rooted
challenges across the sector must be redressed.
National action is needed to address the growing levels of unmet
and under-met need, improve quality of care and fix the
150,000-plus workforce shortages.
"The prolonged absence of meaningful reform of adult social care
is taking a huge toll on those who give and receive care, the
economy and the wider health and care system. The NHS and social
care are two sides of the same coin. As such, an NHS fit for the
future needs a healthy social care sector alongside it.
"Ahead of a general election, this report must be a wake-up call
for the government - and indeed all political parties - to commit
to a fully funded long-term workforce plan and a clear strategy
to implement the 10-year vision for social care, which was
published three years ago.
"We need an ambitious vision to ensure the sector is sustainable
both now and in the future."
