Tweet

More from @PaulBrandITV

Paul Brand

@PaulBrandITV

9 Sep

NEW: Oxfordshire hospitals are said to be in a "critical position" tonight due to surging demand and an inability to discharge patients back into the community due to a shortage of care staff.

John Radcliffe hospital has had no space for 24 hours and cannot offload ambulances.

Hospital is currently in Opel 4 (highest level of alert). They say 20 people arriving per hour is usually considered bad, but they are receiving 30-40 per hour.

There is no ITU capacity and all elective surgery has been cancelled. Situation said to be similar across the region.

An urgent appeal has gone out to care providers to help with discharging patients. But as we reported last week, providers are at full capacity due to staff shortages. In fact, 30% are handing clients back because they can no longer care for them. All increases pressure on NHS.

Read 4 tweets

Paul Brand

@PaulBrandITV

7 Sep

THREAD: This is complicated but v important.

At the moment there are two types of care clients - those who are funded by state (council) and those who fund themselves privately.

Private clients have always paid more than councils do. Providers need that subsidy to survive. 1/4

But today the government brought into force legislation which will allow private clients to ask councils to arrange their care for them instead, at the cheaper council rate.

Great for private clients, dreadful for providers. 2/4

The stark matter is some councils essentially pay under the rate providers need just to break even. Without private clients topping up, those providers will go under. Many already are. And no chance of a wage rise for staff if margins are cut even more (currently about 2%). 3/4

Read 9 tweets

Paul Brand

@PaulBrandITV

7 Sep

BREAKING: I understand care plan is as follows…

1. Cap of £86k
2. Floor of £100k
3. 1.25% hike NI
4. Raises £36bn
5. BUT vast majority goes to NHS. Only £5.4bn for care.
6. Of that £5.4bn, £2.5bn funds care cap. Leaves £2.9bn over 3 years for reform. Care leaders furious.

Care sector was briefed on the plan this morning. They say there’ll also be an extra £500m for workforce training but worry this will do nothing to raise wages, which they feel is the main factor behind the staffing crisis.

“Feeling depressed”, one source tells me.

Bit more detail on £100k floor:

Not quite a floor as costs will be tapered between £20k-100k so individual still contributes but state helps.

But main reaction from care sector is about overall funding here - falls way short of what they feel they need and seems more about NHS.

Read 4 tweets

Paul Brand

@PaulBrandITV

7 Sep

Hearing PM will announce a plan that very closely takes on the Andrew Dilnot proposals from 2011.

No great surprise, but:

1. Cap of around £80k, meaning you pay no more

2. Floor of £100k, meaning your savings won't ever deplete beyond that (important for less well off).

Politics is a funny business... this plan has been around for a DECADE.

How many houses have been sold in that time? How many people have died with little inheritance to pass on? How many have missed out on care because of underfunding? How many carers have been overworked?

Plan arguably benefits the better off in 2 ways:

1. Their homes are worth more, leaving a nice inheritance for relatives.

2. They'll pay less national insurance as a proportion of their income than the lower paid.

A good policy for the home counties. Less so for the red wall?

Read 6 tweets

Paul Brand

@PaulBrandITV

5 Sep

All eyes on tax rises today, but discussion around care should be focused on three problems:

- the lottery of life that sees some pay thousands for care and others pass savings on to kids

- the hugely variable quality of care

- the low pay of staff undervalued for decades

Anyone in doubt of the urgent need for funding (without it being siphoned off for the NHS) should listen to those on front line who are absolutely broken.

Here is our report from Thursday detailing the unprecedented staffing shortage in the sector.

Staffing crisis partly requires addressing problem 3, with thousands of carers still paid below the living wage.

That in turn requires more funding of the sector so councils can up their rates.

This is what it feels like to be a carer on £9 an hour:

itv.com/news/2021-07-1…

Read 5 tweets

Paul Brand

@PaulBrandITV

5 Jul

PM says whether he'll personally wear a mask will "depend on circumstances".

"Clearly there is a big difference between travelling on a crowded tube and sitting late at night in a near empty carriage on a mainline railway."

That's quite a bit for us all to individually assess.

Much clearer from Chris Whitty. He will wear mask in 3 situations:

1. Any situation indoors, crowded, or indoors in close proximity to others

2. If asked to by any authority

3. If someone else was uncomfortable, as a point of 'common courtesy'

Does not sound as if Chris Whitty will be disposing of his face mask anywhere near as quickly as the PM.

Though Boris Johnson adds, "I will wear a face mask in crowded places."

Read 4 tweets

Share this page!

Paul Brand

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

More from @PaulBrandITV

Paul Brand

Paul Brand

Paul Brand

Paul Brand

Paul Brand

Paul Brand

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Like this author's thread?