Adult Social Care

Debate between Kelvin Hopkins and Glyn Davies

Thursday 8th March 2012 Commons Chamber

[Kelvin Hopkins]

I thank the hon. Lady for her intervention, but I think that the system is broken because it is underfunded and we have forged ahead with privatisation. In my constituency, we had a wonderful care home, which I knew well because my mother-in-law lived there in the last few years of her life. She and the other residents loved being there. They had permanent, dedicated staff, all from the local community, who loved working there. All the health advisers and professionals who came into the home thought that it was wonderful. It was closed. The pretext for that was that it did not meet care home standards because it did not have en-suite facilities. It was a trick—a pretext for closing homes and forcing them into the private sector. That home was closed, the land was sold and all the residents went into private care, some of which was not very good.

[Glyn Davies (Montgomeryshire) (Con)]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for allowing me to intervene because it gives me an opportunity to contribute to the debate, a lot of which I missed because of the debate on the common agricultural policy in Westminster Hall that I had to attend.

The hon. Gentleman’s speech is about residential care homes. With the best will in the world, no matter how successful we are in developing domiciliary care, private sector residential care homes will play a big part in care for the elderly. Does the hon. Gentleman agree that, after the stories about the lack of regulation, including financial regulation, in private care homes in the past couple of years, we in Parliament will have to ensure that all residential care homes meet a certain standard for long-term sustainability so that people are not moved around without any real control?

[Kelvin Hopkins]

I agree with the hon. Gentleman entirely. The Care Quality Commission was encouraged to have light-touch regulation and to do only occasional inspections, of which the homes were usually warned. The inspections were not adequate, and many homes fell below the standards anybody would expect. If every care home was rigorously inspected, with spot checks from time to time, we might ensure that they lived up to the standards that we expect. However, it could cost a bit more because they might have to employ more qualified staff and so on.

We should professionalise the system and ensure that it is properly regulated and checked, even if it stays in the private sector. I personally prefer public provision, with people who are motivated by what I call the public service ethos. I have seen that working and I have seen what has replaced it. People come to my surgery and complain about being forced to move out of care homes that are being closed. That is especially difficult for those with dementia. People are pressed to go into other homes, which the residents’ families often find inferior. Some are good, but not all, and people are unhappy that three care homes in my constituency have closed.

The first home closed 10 to 12 years ago and I remonstrated with the local authority officer concerned. After an hour, he finally said that it was about costs: that private care homes pay lower wages, and that the staff work longer hours and have shorter holidays. I said that at least that was honest, but it was not right.

I disagree with my right hon. Friend the Member for Leigh (Andy Burnham) about young people paying. Most taxation involves redistribution to ourselves at other stages of our lives. When we pay national insurance contributions for pensions, we are in a sense saving for ourselves later through a state system. With the health service, we pay in when we can and take out when we need. It is a redistribution to ourselves. The young paying in now for long-term care is a sensible approach, especially as it will be proportionate.