Older people’s champion calls for NHS-style social care system

An older people’s champion is calling for a radical £7bn overhaul of the social care system to support the UK’s ageing population. Philip Spiers is campaigning for a revolutionary NHS-style system following research by Saga Magazine which predicts that 300,000 50-year-olds will celebrate their 100th birthday – a staggering 26-fold increase compared with today.

Mr Spiers, acting chief executive of First Stop Advice, teamed up with the department of health to prepare a White Paper for Parliament that sets out set out a blueprint for a national care service scheme.

He said: “We want an NHS system for social care to avoid the current postcode lottery. We need at least £7bn to provide provisions such as care homes and care for people in their own homes.

“Currently social care is provided by local authorities and unless people have critical needs they do not get anything.

“That is why we need a drastic reform as the current system is under-funded.”

The scheme is expected to be funded by national insurance tax and the death tax.

The study, which was published last week, found the boom in the very elderly is down to medical advances and changes in lifestyle for over 50s.

Emma Soames, editor-at-large for Saga Magazine, said: “Healthy life expectancy is keeping pace with increases in overall lifespan, which means that infirmity in old age arrives later.

“Staying fit is about more than just diet and exercise – it is also about being psychologically and sexually active. It is older people who have changed most who are most unlike their same-aged counterparts of the 1970s and 80s.”