Baroness Casey has launched the Big Conversation on Care which will ask people in England how its adult social care system should be reformed.
The announcement came as new PM Andy Burnham delivered his latest speech about the urgent need to fix England’s adult social care system.
Yesterday, Health & Protection spoke to Johnny Timpson, who suggested income protection innovation could be key to fixing the problem.
Burnham is also launching cross-party talks on the subject with the Conservative and Liberal Democrat party leaders on the issue.
He was part of the Labour government which published the Dilnot report that proposed a National Care System in 2010, shortly before losing the General Election that year.
Casey Commission
Baroness Casey of Blackstock is chairwoman of the Independent Commission on Adult Social Care, also known as the Casey Commission, which will recommend how to reform the adult social care system.
Speaking alongside Burnham this morning, she described the Big Conversation on Care as a “game changer”.
The Big Conversation is part of the work being undertaken by the Independent Commission on Adult Social Care.
Over the coming months, the commission will hear from people in different ways, including through its online platform directly from people who work in adult social care or those who may not take part online.
There will also be more in-depth discussions with a public panel on care, made up of people selected to broadly reflect the population of England.
The Big Conversation, delivered with research company Ipsos, will aim to help ensure the conversation reaches people from a wide range of backgrounds, experiences and communities across England, the government said.
Feedback will be brought together and considered alongside the other evidence gathered by the commission which will help inform its recommendations to the government on the future of adult social care.
Baroness Casey has been charged with delivering her full report within a year.
She said: “For too long, we have been stuck in the same cycle: crisis, promises of reform, another review, and then retreat, while the people who need care, and their families, bear the brunt.
“Fixing adult social care is about far more than money. People are already paying for failure through council tax, pressure on the NHS, their savings, giving up work, and the forced sale of their homes.
“The choice is whether we keep putting money into a system that is unfair, unpredictable and broken, or have an honest conversation about how to build something better.
“That is why we need a public conversation on care that tackles the tough questions. It’s only by facing up to this problem together that we can fix social care once and for all.”