Letter To The Editor

My wish for the most vulnerable in 2021

No tears will be shed for 2020 and as we start the new year, we all pray for better times ahead.

My hope for 2021 is that we finally get the proper reform of social care we have been promised for so long.

Covid-19 exposed a sector in crisis and vulnerable to such a dreadful virus. The death toll in care and nursing homes is 18,964 and rising. It would have been much worse but for the amazing response of those working in the care sector, who have performed miracles.

Those caring for the most vulnerable in society deserve reform of their sector to bring them parity with NHS care providers.

Now that Brexit is done, Boris Johnson must get social care done with the same amount of energy used to negotiate the deal with the EU. Nothing is impossible. There are no more excuses, and he must tell the Treasury, ‘this is going to happen’. No more prevarication.

Social care needs its Nye Bevan moment; someone to come along and grasp the issue, create a solution, and go down in history as the person who solved how to look after the country’s oldest and most vulnerable. Can Boris Johnson be that person? We hope so.

As 1948 saw the establishment of the NHS so 2021 must see the dawn of a new era for social care. We are waiting.

A happy New Year to you all!


Mike Padgham
Managing Director
Saint Cecilia’s Care Group