The healthcare system “needs urgent reform”, according to a select committee | UK News

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted that care in the UK is “not adequately funded, lacks transparency and is in urgent need of reform,” according to a select government committee.

The public accounts committee, which promotes transparency and accountability in government, calls for an end to rhetoric and the implementation of long-talked about reforms.

One of its main recommendations is that the Ministry of Health and Social Affairs should establish a comprehensive, whole-of-government reform plan for care by the end of this year.

MP Meg Hillier, chair of the committee, said: “Caregivers, young people and the elderly in need of care and home care have experienced decades of neglect, and the 1.5 million people who work in care deserves much better.

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“Reforms to address this problem must now include a long-term financing plan that allows local authorities and providers to innovate and improve services. We cannot afford more broken commitments to care ”.

Its reflections are echoed by the industry, which has largely welcomed the recommendations.

Mike Padgham, owner of care homes in Scarborough and chairman of the Independent Care Group, said the results were not surprising.

“It’s nothing that we don’t already know, or that the government should already know,” he said.

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“It’s like your house is on fire and you keep calling the fire department, but they still haven’t shown up.

“I want to see the government be bold and set a date for the implementation of these reforms, and if the current secretary of state can’t make it happen, someone else should be called in.”

At St …