Batley and Spen MP calls for 'urgent action' to address social care crisis

The call comes after Ms Leadbeater attended a meeting with care home managers, staff, trade unions and the relatives of elderly patients in her constituency of Batley and Spen.

Speaking after the meeting, Ms Leadbeater said: “The stories we heard today were absolutely heart-breaking. Nobody should be put through the kind of indignities and suffering that are being inflicted on some of the most vulnerable people in society.

“As the daughter of an elderly mother with dementia put it to me, the system is not at breaking point, it is already broken. She told us that her mum begged to be allowed to die after countless delays in getting her the care she so desperately needs.

“I don’t blame the care workers and NHS staff who work tirelessly to do the best they can with the resources they have available, but as a country we have to face up to the fact that for far too long we have been letting down those who need and deserve so much better.”

The meeting heard that nine care homes have closed across Kirklees in the past year because of rising costs, with at least half of those that remain open described as being ‘on their knees’.

The electricity bill at one home had risen from £12,000 to £98,000 a year and with no guarantee that government help with bills will continue beyond April, managers said it was impossible to plan for the future.

However, there was agreement between all those present, including from Kirklees Council and the GMB trade union, that the problems in the sector were not all about money.

Peter Davies, GMB's senior organiser in West Yorkshire, said: “When we have 750,000 women in this sector mainly working on zero hours contracts and not getting paid for up to 25 per cent of the time they are out there in our communities because of task and time models of pay, we don't have a care crisis in the UK, we have a care catastrophe.”

Ms Leadbeater added: “Despite everything we heard about the terrible consequences of the neglect and under-investment in the care system, I was encouraged by the positive attitude from everybody around the table who agreed that much could be done to improve the situation within existing resources.

“Of course we need to value and pay care workers more or we will continue to lose highly skilled and dedicated staff to better paid jobs elsewhere. But we also need to create a culture in which carers can thrive. That’s partly about leadership and partnership across the sector and it’s also about reform.

“For far too long, governments have delayed reforming the system and it’s happening again now. We need to put much more emphasis on prevention and on domiciliary care so older people can be looked after at home which is where they almost always want to be.

“And until we get to grips with the capacity problem in the care sector the pressure on hospital beds will continue. A fully integrated, holistic strategy is long overdue and we cannot put it off any longer.”