Andy Burnham’s social care ambitions welcome – But it’s not just about adults

At WellChild, we welcome the Prime Minister’s renewed commitment to reforming social care and the recognition that too many people are being let down by a fragmented system. The focus on long-term reform, workforce sustainability, prevention, and cross-party engagement is important and long overdue. 

However, as the debate develops, it is essential that children and young people with complex medical needs are not overlooked. 

Much of the current discussion has so far centred on adult social care specifically. Yet, as we know from our work and by the Children’s Commissioner’s recent report, thousands of children and families face the same challenges: difficulties accessing care at home, shortages of skilled support, limited respite provision, fragmented commissioning, and most notably, long delays in securing the services needed for safe discharge from hospital and therefore participation in family, education and community life. 

Advances in medicine and technology mean that children and young people are living much longer with increasingly complex, round the clock medical needs. Many of them can be stuck in hospital unnecessarily for months and years. Those caring at home are often under intense emotional, physical and financial strain having to deliver round-the-clock medical care and navigate a fragmented system without the support they need. Many are at breaking point. 

WellChild Nurses are working on the front line to address some of these challenges. Last year, we prevented more than 8,500 hospital admissions and enabled the safe discharge of 575 children and young people. But it can feel like an uphill struggle with rising demand and crippling NHS cost cutting putting services at risk and working at complete odds to both the NHS 10-year Plan ‘Hospital to Home’ and Andy Burnham’s new social care reform ambitions.  

So, as the Government develops its plans for a ‘National Care Service’ and wider social care reform, we urge Andy Burnham and his team to ensure children and young people with complex medical needs are explicitly included in reform discussions. There must be a dedicated workstream on children’s care and support. As ever, we are here to help! 

This is a unique opportunity to strengthen support for family carers. Parent carers are unpaid carers too – many having had to give up careers to meet the care needs of their children at home!  

We need a specialist workforce and skills programme to ensure our society can meet the needs of a growing population of children and young people with increasingly complex care needs. We need better coordination between health, social care and education and we need to continue to prioritise transition from children to adult services. 

The success of social care reform should be measured not only by outcomes for adults, but by whether every person who depends on care and support can live well at home with dignity, independence, choice, and the opportunity to thrive. That must include children and young people with complex medical needs and the families who care for them every day. 

In short – It’s not just about adults.