BASW Cymru response to Plaid Cymru Care Commission report

Wales is in need of a drastically improved social care service.  Our nation is facing the serious issue of being unable to meet everybody’s need for adequate social care. In response to this, the Plaid Cymru Care Commission has made a number of recommendations, based on evidence collected over the past year, on how to improve the social care sector.

The Plaid Cymru Care Commission report states that social care should be available free at the point of need, in a similar way to the NHS.

The Commission released its Consultation Paper ‘Developing a vision for social care in Wales’. BASW Cymru would like to extend the opportunity to our members to have their voice heard by responding to the report and the ten recommendations the committee have put forward. Take this opportunity to make sure that your voice in heard on the future of social care in Wales!

Allison Hulmes, BASW Cymru National Director, said: “Social care, free at the point of delivery is long overdue. This is something we should be striving to achieve in Wales, as the ‘birthplace’ of the NHS. It’s an ongoing travesty that social care provisions are inconsistent across Wales. In parts of Wales that are largely rural, the wellbeing outcomes and rights to self-determination of our citizens shouldn’t be contingent on where they live.”

Deadline for responding, 31st October 2019

Developing a vision for social care in Wales - Full report: https://bit.ly/2MJiogg

The Commission has made 10 key recommendations:

  1.  All Social Care delivered free at the point of need.
  2.  A commitment to person-centred care in the design and delivery of the service.
  3.  Development of early intervention and preventative services.
  4.  A planned transformation period, costed and evidence-based, funding both acute and preventive services simultaneously.
  5.  Parity of pay and terms and conditions between social care and health staff.
  6.  Social Care to be paid for out of general taxation, with an emphasis on investing in early intervention and preventative services. 
  7. Establish the costs required and to invest in the technology necessary to implement an all-Wales joined-up and co-operative approach.
  8. Third Sector and other providers to be involved as partners at the planning and commissioning stage of service delivery whilst being free to innovate.
  9. To develop a bi-lingual workforce to provide a fully bi-lingual social care service.
  10. Creation of a National Health and Care Service, managed nationally by a National Health and Social Care Board.

You can write to the Plaid Cymru Care Commission: Tŷ Gwynfor, Anson Court, Atlantic Wharf, Cardiff, CF10 4AL or you can also email us at post@plaid.cymru with your thoughts.

​Plaid Cymru perspective

Dr Dai Lloyd AM, Plaid Cymru’s Shadow Minister for Local Government, Care and Public Services and member of the Care Commission said,

“This is the first stage of the Care Commission’s work. We are excited by the challenge to present a radical workable solution for social care for the people of Wales and the National Care Service working hand in glove with the NHS will be central to the Plaid Cymru Government in 2021.

“Aneurin Bevan is rightly celebrated for being the architect of the NHS in the teeth of vocal opposition and vested interests. The challenge to radically reform social care along the same lines as health care is one Plaid Cymru is determined to achieve – finishing Aneurin Bevan’s work – Gorffen gwaith Nye.

Helen Mary Jones AM, Plaid Cymru’s Shadow Minister for Health and Social Services said,

“Plaid Cymru has long stated that social care should be free at the point of need and funded from general taxation, in the same way that the NHS is funded and I fully welcome the commission’s recommendations today.

“We often hear of the desperate stories of individuals from across Wales who are not receiving the social care that they need such as people with dementia having to sell their homes to pay for care bills.

“Social care and social care workers must be given parity of esteem, status and pay within the health and social care system. The existing system is inefficient, unsustainable and creates the wrong incentives for providers. Plaid Cymru’s vision for Social Care in Wales will be radical, nationally led, and delivered across Wales to tackle the pressures on our social services in Wales.