One of the fundamental challenges facing adult social care is that it is ‘invisible’. Do you agree? What do you think explains this?

It is largely ignored by most people who do not have a relative in a care home. The only time it gets mentioned in the news is if an organisation (such as Rights for Residents) start making a fuss.

What are the key changes that need to be made to reduce the invisibility of adult social care?

MP’s need to be talking about it in parliament, the media should be asking more questions about what goes on behind closed doors.

For example my parent’s care home only allows a resident to have 1 bath or shower a week - a practice I understand that is widespread in the industry- is that acceptable in this day and age?

How does this invisibility reflect the experience of social care for people who draw on care and support and their carers, and how is this experience different depending on the age range and particular circumstances of those who draw on care and support and their carers?

My only experience is as a relative of an elderly person in a care home.

How would you define the purpose of adult social care? How does the invisibility of adult social care get in the way of achieving this purpose?

It should enable a person to enjoy quality of life and a family life as if they didn’t have any additional needs.

To what extent does the definition of the purpose of adult social care differ for younger and for older adults? How can future reform of the adult social care system best address these differences?

Being able to enjoy a good quality of life is necessary no matter what age group you are in.

What are the key challenges that people who draw on care and support and carers will face in the future, which are not factored into current assumptions related to the social care system, for example the fact that some families will age without children to care for them? How are these challenges different for younger and for older adults who draw on care? What should be done now to address them?

The way we have treated our most vulnerable members of society during the last 2 years has been shameful. Anyone who has experienced this will be asking the same question as me - when I’m a little older will I want to live in a care home - my answer is a resounding no. Care in the community is going to have to be increased.

What effect has the COVID-19 pandemic had on adult social care?

It has caused distress to all those in care and their relatives. Such has been the obsession with preventing those in care from becoming ill that no one has given any thought to their quality of life, keeping them locked in tiny rooms for weeks on end and only lately allowing them a single visitor is nothing short of cruelty.

Care homes hide behind the guidance and by claiming they constantly are in outbreak status - in my experience the latest outbreak in my mother’s home has now lasted for five months - they are able to lock the home down without being challenged.

5 April 2022