Significant investment announced to support disabled and elderly residents in Doncaster

Health and Social Care Secretary Wes Streeting will confirm a funding boost of £417,563 for Doncaster as part of an £86 million boost to the Disabled Facilities Grant for this financial year.

Alongside the funding, the government’s immediate action to support adult social care also includes harnessing the power of care technology to transform care and support older people to live at home for longer, cutting red tape to ensure billions of joint NHS and social care funding is keeping people healthy and taking pressure off the NHS, as well as improved career pathways for care workers and new national standards to ensure providers and families use the best care technology.

Care workers across South Yorkshire will be better supported to take on further duties to deliver health interventions, such as blood pressure checks, meaning people in Doncaster can receive more routine checks and care at home without needing to travel to healthcare settings.

The national career structure for care staff will also be expanded, ensuring there are opportunities for career progression and development pathways.

The government will also develop a shared digital platform to allow up-to-date medical information to be shared between the NHS and care staff, including when someone last took their medication, to ensure people receive the best possible care.

Alongside immediate steps to ease pressure on the sector and improve support for care workers, the government is also kickstarting work on the necessary long-term reform to overhaul social care and address the inherited challenges it faces.

As set out in the manifesto, this deep reform will include the creation of a National Care Service underpinned by national standards, delivering consistency of care across the country.

As a first step, the government will launch an independent commission into adult social care to inform the work needed to deliver this. The commission, chaired by Baroness Louise Casey and reporting to the Prime Minister, will work with people drawing on care and support, families, staff, politicians, and the public, private and third sector to make clear recommendations for how to rebuild the adult social care system to meet the current and future needs of the population.

Doncaster North MP Ed Miliband said: “This funding will be vital in supporting people in Doncaster to live at home with the dignity, independence, and quality of life that they deserve.

“Adult social care has been left to fail for far too long, leaving many in Doncaster with their needs not being met.

“In the election we promised that a Labour Government would prioritise the investment and long-awaited reforms desperately needed for adult social care. Today we continue to deliver on that promise.”

Health and Social Care Secretary Wes Streeting said: “In the first six months of this government, work has already begun on stabilising the care sector, investing in prevention, and in carers and care workers. The investment and reforms we’re announcing today will help to modernise social care, get it working more closely with the NHS, and help deliver our Plan for Change.

“But our ageing society, with costs of care set to double in the next 20 years, demands longer term action.

“The independent commission will work to build a national consensus around a new National Care Service able to meet the needs of older and disabled people into the 21st century.

“I have written to opposition parties to invite them to take part in the commission’ work, and asked Baroness Louise Casey to build a cross-party consensus, to ensure the national care service survives governments of different shades, just as our NHS has for the past 76 years.

“We are appointing one of our country’s leading public service reformers, and Whitehall’s greatest do[1]er, to finally grasp the nettle on social care reform.”