Shadow care minister Liz Kendall spoke about the ‘scandal’ of brief home care visits during a visit to Huddersfield.
And she vowed to listen to feedback from carers, users and experts when forming Labour Party care policy ahead of next year’s general election.
The Labour MP and shadow minister for Care and Older People was invited to award-winning Home Instead Care (HIC) in Honley by Jane East, the party’s Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for the Colne Valley.
They met James Little, HIC owner, carers and family members of those receiving care.
Liz Kendall said: “We’ve got to join up the NHS and care services locally, we’ve got to end the scandal of the 15 minute home visits and we’ve got to support the families who provide vital care too.
“But we need to recognise that care doesn’t come on the cheap. Carers do one of the most vital jobs. We ask them to come into our homes and look after our loves ones and carers need all the support we can give them.
“Good care can keep people out of hospital. In the last year alone we spent £260m on delayed discharge because the resources were not available in the community. That could have paid for 37,000 people to have a year’s worth of home care.
“Jane asked me to come here today to look at an example of best practice and hear directly from people about what they need, because that’s the way we should be forming Labour policy.
“We will never get the best outcome for people sitting in Westminster so I’m delighted to be here.”
Jane East, the PPC for the Colne Valley, said it was important for her to learn what people’s priorities for care should be.
“I think we should be proud we have a model like Home Instead Care that is providing quality care,” she said. “I think we can learn a lot from their experiences. Liz was aware of the general issues, but in places like this social isolation for older people is a big issue, but it’s not the only issue and I want to hear about others.”
Carers, clients and health professional spoke of improvements needed in partnerships between hospitals, health practices, social care providers and local authorities.
Cost was also raised and Mr Little said direct payments meant people had more choice.
He told the shadow minister that care companies should be star-rated so people can see which ones perform the best, adding: “We provide a minimum care of one hour to all of our clients. They work one-to-one instead of having a different carer visit and so our carers really get to know their clients, are better placed to help and also spot if there are problems.”
