The NHS: well-off pensioners should pay a social care insurance | the big issue

In searching for a new tax to save the NHS and social care from collapse consideration should be given to a section of the populace that has so far been “featherbedded” by recent governments – retired pensioners who are comfortably well off (“UK needs new tax to save NHS and social care from collapse – top Tory”, News).

This group will probably have occupational and state pensions and possibly other income – state pensions have been increased by 2.5% each year for most of the last few years. Like most other pensioners they will also probably receive fuel allowances, free TV licences, bus passes, free medical prescriptions and eye tests and of course once retired they no longer pay national insurance. But they are becoming a greater burden on NHS and social care resources and I think it could certainly be fully justified if they were to pay a small percentage of national insurance tax, gradually increasing for higher incomes.

I am in my late 80s and would willingly pay a small percentage amount of national insurance, as long as I knew it would definitely be going into a separate NHS fund, not into general revenue. In fact, many other taxpayers would probably be willing to pay an extra amount of tax as long as they knew it was going into a separate NHS and social care fund.
John Hartley
Kirkby Lonsdale

Your front page story further reinforces the politically convenient narrative that the only problem facing the NHS is the increasing number of elderly people. As a late baby boomer I am fed up being regarded as a likely drain on the healthcare system.

Abysmal lifestyle habits, including excessive alcohol consumption and sugar- and fat-rich diets, contribute more to the cost of the NHS than geriatrics.

It’s a lazy and shabby argument to frame the NHS budget crisis principally around a demographic trend that is essentially a positive.

We can improve our personal health by taking responsibility for our lifestyle and we can stop clogging up A&E departments by being more sensible about what constitutes an emergency: we can’t actually stop getting old.
John Wilson
Magheralin
Craigavon

Twenty years ago, I spent a fortnight in the small German town of Weinheim, near Heidelberg, shadowing a German social worker. As a social worker myself I was keen to see how another EU country endeavoured to finance the needs of the frail elderly.

Dr Dan Poulter maintains that the British government needs to introduce a health and care tax as a matter of urgency. When I spent those two weeks in Germany, a new, strictly ringfenced tax had already been operating for a couple of years.

Known as the Pflegekasse (care insurance ), into which all age groups have to pay, it involves three levels of need, ranging from those who are still partly independent, but who need some assistance with personal care, to those who require several daily visits from care assistants, and also to those frail elderly or disabled of any age whose needs can only be met by admission to a care home.

This system, and the way it is paid for, speeds up discharge from hospital and helps to prevent many from being admitted to hospital in the first place. Twenty years on, the system is functioning well.

Why has a similar arrangement never been established in this country? I fear that now we have opted to leave the EU there is even less chance of a British government emulating a good, workable idea that has taken root in an EU country. After all, Britain always knows best, doesn’t it?
Alison Thompson
Thursby
Cumbria

The NHS: well-off pensioners should pay a social care insurance | the big issue

Firefighters need to make pensioners properties risk-free, head of NHS England says

Speaking at the Neighborhood Government Association conference Mr Stevens said the NHS wants to get its “act together” and make the “practical” adjustments which would permit folks who are currently out in communities to help maintain older people secure in their properties and out of hospital.

The fire services supplied a “fantastic opportunity” to assess old people’s house for attainable dangers at the identical time as they carried out their a lot more traditional roles this kind of as checking smoke alarms, he extra.

The large improve in short hospital admissions was not down to “whole bunch of frail or older people” tripping above on the pavement and breaking bones but represented a fundamental failing in the care they have been being provided ahead of they turned up at hospitals, he suggested.

He said: “This tells us that anything at the interface that we are all offering to men and women in their personal residence is kind of breaking down and that is why you are seeing this 124 per cent boost.

“The issues are going wrong, that are contributing to that huge enhance in short emergency admissions, are the items we can probably put correct – and as we do that we have to increase some of our definitions.

“In the NHS the definition of an avoidable admission does not contain falls prevention and nevertheless I think there are 250,000 older people admitted to hospital each 12 months getting fallen at home.

“If you are the local fire service and you are undertaking a property go to to check on smoke alarms there is just a wonderful possibility, but do we believe about that in the round, does the NHS think about how to fund and assistance that – no it doesn’t.

“These are the sort of practical issues that if we received our act collectively we could make an affect on.”

His comments came as he announced billions of pounds of well being services and town hall budgets are now to be handed in excess of to the most vulnerable patients to obtain overall health and social care providers in the community.

In a substantial policy change frail elderly individuals, disabled children and men and women will significant finding out problems or psychological illness will be provided a pot of income to devote on overall health specialists in an try to keep them out of hospital.

Firefighters need to make pensioners properties risk-free, head of NHS England says

Pensioners to prisoners: how telecare can deal with tough to attain patients

Airedale NHS foundation trust now offers a remote advisor-led service to 15 prisons. Photograph: Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Pictures

Final winter, 93-yr-previous Ernest Towers had entry to arguably 1 of the most transformational resources in healthcare, when his North Yorkshire care house, Sutton Lodge, was linked to Airedale NHS basis trust’s telemedicine service.

For numerous older individuals, unplanned admissions to emergency departments – or even regimen hospital appointments – can be hugely disruptive. The hyperlink to Airedale’s telehealth hub, staffed by nurses knowledgeable in acute evaluation, offers Towers with on phone specialised health-related care close to the clock, albeit by means of video hyperlink.

Rachel Binks, nurse consultant for outreach and critical care at the believe in, argues that higher definition cameras and screens, linked by the NHS’s N3 network, offer a very clear see of the patient. “We can see regardless of whether they are obtaining a problem, say with their breathing, and we can use other products like telemonitoring to assess them,” she says.

Airedale supplies telemedicine to 107 nursing and residential houses, and this yr it is expanding its services with links to a more 180. It has also kitted out 75 patients in their very own residences, typically men and women with continual obstructive pulmonary condition and heart failure.

According to the trust’s figures, in the 12 months from April 2012 telemedicine lowered hospital admissions by 35%, A&ampE attendances by 53% and bed days by 59% for men and women in nursing and residential care houses. The findings for people with long-phrase situations are related: 45% fewer hospital admissions, a 60% reduction in A&ampE attendances and a 50% minimize in bed days.

And it claims that feedback from individuals and carers is good. Michael Hebden, manager of Sutton Lodge, says: “We can often contact if we have doubts or queries about our residents. We have utilized it for tips on breathing complaints, a head damage, rashes and chest infections.”

The service reaches across England, as far south as Dartford and as north as Carlisle, and has come a extended way because it started eight years ago with a extremely distinct type of clientele. Airdale’s healthcare director at the time, Dr Richard Pope, saw telemedicine as a way of tackling wellness inequalities and treating hard to reach individuals. Pope was instrumental in initiating videoconferencing consultations with prisoners at Total Sutton maximum security jail.

Rebecca Malin, Airdale’s deputy director of method and organization development, says: “In people early days, because we have been only delivering the services to a handful of prisoners, it brought about scheduling problems. Five prisons does not produce enough referrals to run a total clinic.”

Airedale now gives a remote advisor-led services, such as full trauma, orthopaedic and dermatology clinics, to 15 prisons, which includes Whitemoor in Cambridgeshire which started out generating referrals in April 2014.

The capital outlay for technological innovation is funded by local spot teams, produced in April 2013 by NHS England with duty for contracting and delivering providers for prisoners. Malin points out that the reduction in escort and bed view costs is important. “The minimum value for an escort is £200 and there is really no upper limit if you have a substantial protection prisoner. And if they are super higher protection, then you are into helicopters and guards.”

She says about 50% fewer prisoners have to be escorted to hospital as a end result of telemedicine and that the positive aspects go beyond value cost savings. “If you are a patient in the waiting room it is disruptive to see somebody coming in under guard.

“And then there is the privacy and dignity of prisoners, not currently being paraded by means of an outpatient division in handcuffs.”

Delivering remote care efficiently relies on a resilient technical infrastructure, preferably backed up by e-patient records. Malin says that in spite of the reliance on broadband, there has only been one instance of a care property in which connectivity was also bad to run the service.

A next step for Airedale is to give telehealth for finish of life care. Following pilots, it is rolling out 30 telemedicine units, which will go into the properties of men and women in the last number of months of life.

Malin says the believe in did not at first set out to give telemedicine for finish of daily life sufferers, but feedback from the pilots has been quite positive. 1 woman stated it gave her the confidence to deliver her promise of caring for her husband and allowing him to die in his personal residence.

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Pensioners to prisoners: how telecare can deal with tough to attain patients

NHS "defies the law" to deny pensioners important operations, warns Royal School of Surgeons

It exposes a main postcode lottery in practice across the country – with a 37-fold variation in costs of surgery for breast cancer for ladies aged 65 and more than, based on in which they live. Hip replacements had been 10 times as common in some elements of the nation as other individuals, with a sixfold variation in prices of surgical treatment for bowel cancer in 2011-12, the figures display.

The RCS president, Prof Norman Williams, mentioned the scale of the distinctions was “extremely worrying,” raising suspicions that some elements of the NHS had been working covert blanket bans against procedures on age grounds.

Final October, the Government launched age discrimination laws which indicate sufferers ought to not be denied procedures on grounds of age. Physicians are supposed to assess sufferers based mostly on their fitness for an operation, and likely benefit from it.

But charities explained they have been concerned that the figures could imply that GPs were “writing off” pensioners, and not referring them to experts, although in other circumstances cost-cutting by NHS authorities was hitting older individuals hardest.

Specialists calculated the fee of surgical treatment per 10,000 folks in England’s 211 overall health authorities, known as clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) during 2011-12. They found that in some regions, amongst individuals aged 65 and above, there were 37 breast excision procedures to eliminate cancerous tumours. In other parts of the nation, complete numbers had been so minimal that they had been calculated as a fee of zero, that means that in total, fewer than five patients obtained the procedure in excess of the 12 months.

Seventeen CCGs had no individuals above the age of 75 receiving the surgery, even though some places had been providing operations for 27 females per 10,000 population.

Equivalent trends have been found in other common procedures.

Fourteen regions supplied no surgical procedure to get rid of gall bladders for these in excess of the age of 75. Twenty-9 places offered “zero surgery” for those aged 75 and over for a single of the six operations analysed.

Some CCGs supplied no surgical procedure to older patients for a range of procedures.

Bradford City supplied no breast excision surgery, gall bladder operations or knee replacement surgical treatment to these 75 and more than in the course of the period.

West Lancashire offered neither breast excision surgery or knee replacements for individuals 75 and more than, even though Corby did not offer any breast excision or gall bladder replacements for individuals of that age. Prof Williams suggested some components of the NHS could be working unofficial “age bans” on certain remedies.

He explained: “These are huge discrepancies – actually large. It is unattainable to demonstrate the motives behind all the variation but we have our suspicions and I fret about age discrimination.

“It is truly worrying when you look at something like colorectal cancer and there is a sixfold difference amongst various components of the nation after the age of 65 — when we know surgical treatment is the greatest type of treatment.”.

The Overall health Secretary mentioned: “We expect the NHS to make confident that all sufferers can access the treatment method they want – discrimination of any type is unacceptable.”

Tom Gentry, Age UK’s policy adviser and one of the report’s authors, mentioned there was no defence for charges of zero surgical treatment for frequent situations amongst the over 75s and that attempts to enhance the scenario needed to tackle a number of barriers, like making certain sufferers came forward with symptoms, and creating positive their medical doctors took them seriously.

He mentioned: “GPs have been recognized to write off symptoms in older age groups, dismissing troubles as aches and pains when in reality they are serious troubles.”

Mr Gentry said sometimes outdated understanding amid medical employees meant they assumed a patient had “had a excellent innings”, when with the right treatment, they could live at least a decade more.

Martin McShane, NHS England’s national clinical director for prolonged term problems, mentioned: “NHS England is committed to making certain older individuals have equal entry to remedy which need to often be primarily based on what is proper for each and every individual patient, on their informed preferences, not their age.”

A spokesman for Bradford City CCG stated all its decisions had been based mostly on clinical need to have and patient choice.

Meanwile, a main report has referred to as for towns and cities to be redesigned to make them match for an ageing population.

Outdoor health club tools for all ages, futuristic “urban pods” to transport individuals close to and even swings at bus stops could also aid folks get out and about more simply and combat loneliness.

The suggestions are contained in a report published jointly by the Global Longevity Centre and Age Uk.

NHS "defies the law" to deny pensioners important operations, warns Royal School of Surgeons

Pensioners to spend double cap for care house charges

“The cap on care charges is not as simple as it sounds,” stated Caroline Abrahams, the charity’s director. “There is a great deal of devil in the detail with the funding reforms.

“Unfortunately, the modest print usually tends to make the new technique much less generous than initially hoped.”

But the Department of Overall health insisted that the modifications would nonetheless make sure that “no one” should be forced to promote their residence in their lifetime to spend for care and would drastically broaden the quantity of people who competent for support.

The report goes on to warn that pensions are “unlikely” to be capable to meet people’s living costs in retirement and the care they may want. From 2016, the care technique for elderly and disabled men and women in England is to be overhauled. Presently any person with assets, like their home, well worth a lot more than £23,250 will get no aid.

The Care Bill, primarily based on recommendations by Sir Andrew Dilnot, raises the threshold to £118,500 and caps personal care costs.

The cap level of £72,000 is more than twice that envisaged by Sir Andrew but ministers say it will save folks from “catastrophic” costs.

However, the report helps make clear that it does not imply that anyone who has spent £72,000 on care will then have their charges met.

The cap excludes accommodation charges, which account for about a third of a care house bill. It will also not consist of the full quantity numerous in residential properties have to spend for care. Only the official neighborhood value of care will count, that is the volume a council says it would pay out for a area in a residence, which is often significantly reduce than most privately-funded residents pay out. Income folks commit on care just before they have been officially deemed by social employees to be frail ample to be in require of assistance will also not count. Thomas Kenny, 1 of the report’s authors, mentioned: “Anyone who is expecting that the cap will shell out for care is in for a shock.

“The cap is there to shield towards catastrophic care costs and we estimate that handful of men and women entering care aged 85 years will reach it.”

A spokesman for the Division of Wellness mentioned: “Our reforms will mean far more individuals get economic help sooner and maintain more of their wealth.

“We are introducing the first ever cap on care which will defend folks from catastrophic care costs and deferred payments so no one particular should be forced to sell their property in their lifetime to spend for care.

“On prime of the cap, we have enhanced the implies testing degree so that Government support kicks in far earlier than prior to.”

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Pensioners to spend double cap for care house charges

Pensioners to pay double cap for care property fees

“The cap on care costs is not as simple as it sounds,” explained Caroline Abrahams, the charity’s director. “There is a lot of devil in the detail with the funding reforms.

“Unfortunately, the little print typically helps make the new technique less generous than originally hoped.”

But the Division of Overall health insisted that the changes would nevertheless make certain that “no one” ought to be forced to promote their residence in their lifetime to pay for care and would substantially increase the number of people who competent for support.

The report goes on to warn that pensions are “unlikely” to be able to meet people’s living charges in retirement and the care they may possibly require. From 2016, the care system for elderly and disabled individuals in England is to be overhauled. Currently any person with assets, which includes their property, worth far more than £23,250 will get no assist.

The Care Bill, based mostly on suggestions by Sir Andrew Dilnot, raises the threshold to £118,500 and caps personal care costs.

The cap level of £72,000 is a lot more than twice that envisaged by Sir Andrew but ministers say it will conserve men and women from “catastrophic” costs.

Nonetheless, the report makes clear that it does not suggest that anyone who has invested £72,000 on care will then have their costs met.

The cap excludes accommodation charges, which account for about a third of a care home bill. It will also not contain the full amount numerous in residential residences have to shell out for care. Only the official nearby cost of care will count, that is the quantity a council says it would pay out for a area in a property, which is frequently considerably reduced than most privately-funded residents spend. Cash individuals devote on care just before they have been officially deemed by social staff to be frail enough to be in want of help will also not count. Thomas Kenny, a single of the report’s authors, stated: “Anyone who is expecting that the cap will pay for care is in for a shock.

“The cap is there to safeguard towards catastrophic care costs and we estimate that handful of people coming into care aged 85 many years will reach it.”

A spokesman for the Department of Well being said: “Our reforms will imply far more men and women get financial support sooner and hold a lot more of their wealth.

“We are introducing the initial ever cap on care which will defend men and women from catastrophic care charges and deferred payments so no one particular should be forced to promote their house in their lifetime to shell out for care.

“On top of the cap, we have enhanced the signifies testing degree so that Government help kicks in far earlier than before.”

Pensioners to pay double cap for care property fees

Pensioners to be offered suggestions on how prolonged they will dwell

But critics worry that folks could end up struggling financially if they devote all their funds soon right after retiring.

Mr Webb stated that men and women often underestimated their daily life expectancy.

“The idea is that you come to believe about retiring, [but] you really do not know how long that retirement is going to be,” Mr Webb stated.

“What we do know is people get it wrong and they underestimate how long they’re going to dwell.

“At 60 most folks will have dad and mom even now alive so the greatest guide they’ve got about how lengthy they are going to dwell is their grandparents. That is two generations ago so they have a tendency to underestimate how prolonged they are going to dwell.

“My notion … is to say to somebody, ‘Look, an individual of your generation, residing in this element of the country, you’ve not smoked, a person like you could simply live for 27 years’.”

Newly launched figures display that daily life expectancy is growing steadily in the Uk with females born now projected to live 82.seven many years on regular. Regular male lifestyle expectancy is now 78.9 years.

However, for those who reach the age of 65, existence expectancy is substantially greater, as the total figure is an typical brought down by the number who are very likely to die young.

The new figures, from the Office for National Statistics, also suggest that youthful men and women with healthy lifestyles from poorer elements of the Uk are moving to a lot more prosperous areas.

Mr Webb said that the advice would be given face to face by cost savings advisers to any pensioner who requests it.

He promised that the programs would not be “crass and insensitive”.

“I don’t consider it would be tailored to the individual,” he explained. “You would potentially have a table … with gender, in which you live … and you could then say, ‘This is the variety on the chart for you’.”

He has mentioned that he is “relaxed” about the thought of the retired purchasing Lamborghinis with their pension cost savings. “It’s completely people’s own choice what they do with their cash,” Mr Webb stated. “This is not the Government telling them what to do with their very own money. But what it is saying is that when they make their personal choices, we want to make positive they do it on the basis of total details.”

He additional that individuals would have “longer operating lives” in potential and could take on a 2nd or third occupation just before reaching retirement.

“The Chancellor has talked about pension ages of 69 and past, so the thought that people will leave greater education at 21 or 22 or leave college at 18 or whatever and just do 1 task for 50-odd years is implausible,” he mentioned.

“That indicates carrying out diverse items, retraining, moving from anything a lot more physically demanding to some thing much less demanding [or] gradually easing your way out of function.”

The ONS figures also showed stark regional divisions in existence expectancy and recommended that the migration of wholesome young individuals to prosperous regions in search of much better paid jobs is widening the north-south existence-expectancy gap.

Estimates propose that a lady born these days in Purbeck, Dorset can anticipate to reside to 86.six years on regular, 14 years longer than a boy born in inner-city Glasgow.

General existence expectancy is rising across the Uk with girls born now projected to live a complete yr far more than was the case 4 years in the past. Men are narrowing the gap rapidly, gaining nearly 17 months.

In a handful of places in southern and eastern England, the overall figure for male life expectancy has passed 80. It is highest in East Dorset, at 82.9 years.

Glasgow City has the lowest figure for each males and females at 72.six and 78.five many years respectively.

But the greatest current gains have been in London, which has one of the youngest and fastest increasing populations.

Typical male lifestyle expectancy in the capital has leapt by more than 19 months in the previous 4 many years. Female lifestyle expectancy is up by effectively more than a 12 months.

The ONS mentioned in a commentary that patterns of north-south migration appeared to be generating what volume to ghettoes of poorer health in some areas and healthy pockets elsewhere.

It said many variables may possibly be accountable which includes wealth, working problems, education and lifestyles.

But it extra: “One aspect that has received much less attention is the selective migration of wholesome people from poorer health places into far better wellness regions or vice versa.”

Life expectancy right after 65 for guys and females, by area

ENGLAND: guys 18.6 years ladies 21.1 years

North East: 17.6 20

North West: 17.eight twenty.2

Yorks/Humber: 18 20.five

East Midlands: 18.3 21

West Midlands: 18.four 21

East: 19.one 21.5

London: 18.9 21.six

South East: 19.2 21.6

South West: 19.one 21.seven

WALES: 18 20.six

SCOTLAND: 17.two 19.five

NORTHERN IRELAND: 17.9 20.six

Pensioners to be offered suggestions on how prolonged they will dwell

Pensioners who do not volunteer minimize their existence expectancy, says Lord O"Donnell

The report explained: “Higher ranges of volunteering and giving should be encouraged as they are a potent way of increasing subjective wellbeing.

“Governments could have a position in presenting evidence on the positive results of volunteering, and creating it straightforward and appealing to give and volunteer.”

Lord O’Donnell, who as Sir Gus O’Donnell served three Prime Ministers as Cabinet secretary, informed The Everyday Telegraph that this particularly applied to the elderly after they end working.

He stated: “Loneliness is the fundamental equivalent of smoking 15 cigarettes a day in terms of what it will do for your existence expectancy.

“The ageing population is quite expensive. Some men and women are generally really lonely and, if they are lonely, their well being deteriorates and they end up investing far more time in hospital.”

He explained that elderly individuals who are 60 or 65 “have a lot to give to society”, including: “There are two groups who genuinely need to have them – the older group and the very younger in terms of demands for childcare – helping out at the two ends of the spectrum.

“It is actually very good for the 65 to 80 group simply because in volunteering their sense of wellbeing their sense that they are necessary nevertheless, gets enhanced and they come to feel significantly far better as opposed to sitting around not performing quite a lot.”

Other suggestions of the report integrated requiring colleges to educate “character building” life skills to kids, alongside normal lessons.

Teachers should also be offered advice on how to monitor the psychological health of kids in their care.

In long term careers advice for students need to incorporate taking into consideration whether they may be satisfied – rather than just if they may possibly be paid ample, he said.

Lord O’Donnell mentioned that placing people’s well being and wellbeing at the heart of policy creating was “the next stage of public sector reform”, adding: “This is about much better Government, not bigger Government.”

He urged officials at the Treasury to use the Legatum report to function out how maintaining men and women pleased in policy producing can conserve the state funds in hospital and care payments.

This incorporated recognising that in the economy it may well be required “to trade off a minor bit on average growth” to boost happiness across the population.

Lord O’Donnell mentioned: “The total ‘no much more boom and bust’ was in fact a quite great objective since in the downturn individuals get unemployed and the price of unemployment and wellbeing are considerably, a lot more than just reduction of income.

“People’s health deteriorates when they are unemployed, their capability to get back into the labour marketplace goes down, so you are significantly far better off smoothing things out. People care a lot far more about a loss of revenue than the equivalent rise in earnings.”

Lord O’Donnell extra: “GDP alone is not enough. To measure a country’s progress, we also need to have to search at how happy we are with our lives and how worthwhile our lives are.

“Our report shows how to do this: how to measure wellbeing, how to analyse it and how to act on it. We demonstrate how governments and individuals can use this data to make greater decisions and in the end a better society.”

Pensioners who do not volunteer minimize their existence expectancy, says Lord O"Donnell

Paul Burstow: The Human Rights Act need to apply to all pensioners in care homes

So, for example, a individual living in a care house has no safety of tenure, and a resident can be evicted quite simply. It is properly acknowledged that the shock of getting forced to move out of a care home can contribute to someone’s death, and so the Human Rights Act is rightly a backstop in this kind of instances, but only if the Council organized the care.

Worse even now, if you are cared for in your own home by a personal or third sector company, even if the Council arranged it, human rights safety does not apply.

Final yr I was delighted when a cross celebration vote in the Property of Lords defeated the Government to amend the Care Bill to end this anomaly. But that Bill is not but law, and the Justice division is digging its heels in and now would like MPs to overturn that vote.

On ideological grounds the Justice Division would have MPs vote so that the Human Rights Act does not apply to older people who correct up their very own care. It believes that the Act ought to not apply to personal care arrangements.

But this is just not great adequate. How can it be acceptable that if men and women rob a bank and go to prison, then their dignity and care are covered by the Act – but not an elderly person with dementia living in a care home?

So as an alternative of making an attempt to unravel the alterations the Property of Lords manufactured, the Government should embrace it. Respect for a person’s human rights must be at the heart of very good care, it ought to be engrained in the culture of each organisation that supplies care, regardless of whether they are private, charity or publically run. Clarifying the law in this way would be a spur to every care supplier to develop a human rights method into the way they deliver care, assisting to drive up specifications across the entire social care sector.

The Care Bill will be a landmark reform of care in England, extensively welcomed by charities representing older and disabled folks. It is anything the Coalition can be proud of. I am as a result respectfully calling on the Justice Secretary to get rid of his ideological blinkers, and believe about the message he is sending out. I can only hope he reconsiders – for the sake of households and folks needing care everywhere.

Paul Burstow: The Human Rights Act need to apply to all pensioners in care homes