Social care is on its knees. it’s no wonder public satisfaction is at an all-time low

OPINION

The social care system is in desperate need of help. After years of chronic underfunding, under-resourcing and understaffing, we’re now in a position where satisfaction rates for social care are on the floor.

New research released last month by the King’s Fund and Nuffield Trust finds just 13% of people are satisfied with their experiences of the social care system. That is close to half of the level for the NHS (24%) – which is itself the lowest NHS satisfaction rate on record. By comparison 34% of people are satisfied with GP services, 24% dentistry and 31% A&E, so social care satisfaction rates are really lagging.

The system provides vital services to help people to lead healthy, happy lives. But for generations the government has viewed it as the Cinderella service to the NHS – undervalued and under-appreciated. It’s not hyperbole to describe the social care system as on its knees.

Unlike the NHS, social care is not free [in England and Wales; in Scotland, it is free to all adults who have been assessed as eligible]. While a small number of disabled people get social care funded by the NHS, most have to pay for at least part of it. This is true even if all your income comes from benefits.

Benefits are already too low. It is not right that social care costs leave disabled people with even less money to spend on the things they need to lead independent and meaningful lives.

And it’s not just about the cost of care – it’s also the fact that not enough people can get the care they need in the first place. Local authority budgets are increasingly under pressure, and more and more people are seeing their social care support cut as a result. This is putting even more pressure on family carers, many of whom are already burnt-out and exhausted. But there’s no alte