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Very depressing to see how the media happily promotes government hype on social care, whether due to depressing ignorance about the sector despite the pandemic causing such carnage or simply deliberate sucking up to the government. Let me explain...
Take this headline by the @BBC, approvingly retweeted by @MattHancock, or a similar one on @SkyNews that was shared excitedly by vaccines minister @nadhimzahawi. Yet it is simply wrong to claims that 'Every care home resident in England has been offered a COVID-19 jab.'
The true story is that this boast applies only to care homes with older residents. This ignores a large chunk of people in residential care including those with learning disabilities who are seeing some of the highest fatality rates in the pandemic.
Here is some data: In 2018/19 - the year before the pandemic - 841,850 adults received publicly funded long-term social care. The total expenditure, according to @TheKingsFund, was £22.2bn - of which almost half went on working-age adults, who also comprise fastest-rising demand
In 2019, it is estimated there was 90% occupancy of beds in nursing and residential homes, so this assumes about 410,000 care home residents. It is estimated more than 20,000 are working age adults, many of them with learning and other disabilities.
There are many more people with disabilities and working age citizens receiving domiciliary care. Indeed, not only are there more social care staff than NHS staff but a majority of them (715,000) are working to support people in their own homes.
People with learning disabilities have suffered Covid fatalities estimated at between four and six times the rest of the public. Many common conditions, such as Down's syndrome, can have respiratory complications. Yet they have received minimal attention and low vaccine priority
Vaccine rollout is a big achievement so far, the UK's only pandemic success although jury still out on one-jab stance. But why does the government & media overplay the success - and sweep aside a group of citizens, which simply reinforces their sense of exclusion in society?
