Health officials have effectively ignored dementia for years due to the failure to overhaul the social care system, according to Baroness Louise Casey, the Whitehall troubleshooter leading a review into the sector. She stated that the current fragmented system makes accessing care for elderly relatives with dementia nearly impossible for many families.
Baroness Casey made her remarks ahead of a keynote speech at the annual conference of town halls in England and Wales. She argued for a combined health and social care service and called for a "moment of reckoning" to reform the system, which has seen 22 previous reviews fail to produce significant change over nearly three decades. Her team plans to initiate a public consultation on how the system should be altered.
"The burden on families to navigate their way through this incredibly difficult multiple systems of 'do you have any money or not - local authority? Do you need help or not - local authority? NHS - is it a disease, is it fixable, what should we do about it?'" Baroness Casey said. She bluntly added, "They’ve ignored dementia, really, put bluntly, for quite a long time."
She also highlighted that the welfare benefits system, along with health and social care, was developed in silos, exacerbating difficulties for the public. Speaking to the BBC, she emphasized the importance of Labour adhering to its manifesto promise of establishing a National Care Service. Uncertainty surrounds the approach of Andy Burnham, who is expected to become Prime Minister soon.
Baroness Casey indicated that a national health and care service is necessary and that all funding options are under consideration, potentially including tax increases. This aligns with recent discussions by Andy Burnham regarding a new care levy to fund social care reforms. "We cannot keep pretending that a few tweaks will fix adult social care or attempt major reform without the public’s backing," Baroness Casey stated at the Local Government Association conference. "Without that honest conversation with the nation about the difficult choices involved, we will be back here again and again."
She informed MPs last month that her interim report, due later this year, would propose significant changes, with the final report anticipated by 2028, though the work might conclude sooner. The Labour party faced criticism after its 2024 election victory for abandoning plans by the previous Conservative government to cap personal care costs at £86,000 for individuals over their lifetime. Currently, individuals with over £23,250 in savings are ineligible for local council assistance with care costs, forcing some to deplete their life savings.
The Local Government Association, in a report released on the conference's opening day, suggested reassessing the suitability of council tax as a funding mechanism for adult social care. Citing "decades of political indecision and delay to address social care funding," the LGA urged the government to advocate for a national funding solution.
This development coincides with a joint initiative by the Daily Mail and the Alzheimer's Society to combat dementia, a disease responsible for 76,000 deaths annually. The "Defeating Dementia" campaign seeks to raise awareness, promote early diagnosis, increase research funding, and improve care for those affected by the disease.