Question raised in Parliament

At the end of June, Jill Sheldrake (Service Director), Amanda Hampson (Head of Community and Personalisation),  Rick Vogan (Head of Clinical Services) and Ali Gunn (Communications and Campaigns Manager) met with Cheadle MP Mary Robinson in June to discuss the integration of health and social care. 

As a charity with services that cut across health and social care, this is an important issue for us. We see first-hand how challenges within procurement and commissioning have led to a division of services, leaving people without the proper pathway of support that they need. Similarly, fragmented budgets across education, health and social care lead to gaps in support, ultimately meaning a child with an EHCP runs the risk of not getting the wrap-around care they need. But with huge reviews and reforms taking place across government there needs to be a firm commitment to creating a pathway through children and adult social care with no hard transition. 

And the pandemic has quite rightly highlighted the role that the social care workforce plays alongside the NHS in holding our society together. But it has shone a light on the disparities in pay between these two essential workforces. Our new briefing explores these issues and asks key questions for the government.

As a result of our meeting, Mary recognised our work in Parliament on Monday and asked the new Secretary of State for Health and Social to commit to recognising the work that we and other third sector organisations have done throughout the pandemic.