Social care is a slow-motion car crash. Watch out, it’s heading for you

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/may/28/social-care-car-crash-councils-panorama

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When you see a car about to crash, you hope somehow it can be avoided. When you see one in slow motion, the urge to intervene is even stronger. That’s my response each time as a film-maker when I find a situation spiralling out of control – kids in care, failed adoptions, police mistreatment of rape victims, young people sent to prison for lack of an alternative, and many more. Now it is adult social care. At 83, and still working, I have a personal interest.

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Less money, fewer staff, and more people needing care as they age: a slow-motion car crash. I was enlisted by Angie Mason – with whom I have made challenging films about neglectful care homes, classroom chaos and fraudulent claims for medicines, and sports products. Working with my longstanding collaborator James Rogan to make a two-part Panorama special on the care crisis in local authorities. Many are under huge financial pressure – some on the verge of going bust – largely because of the needs of a small percentage of their population at a time of austerity and cuts.

Most councils said no. But Somerset county council gave us extraordinary access to show staff trying to manage the needs of one of the largest number of people over 65 in the country – while cutting the budget. The numbers are astonishing: 500,000 council taxpayers in Somerset help fund the care needs of 6,500. Their support takes 42% of the council budget of £320m. Adding children’s services consumes a total of 60%. These are statutory obligations, so other services must be cut – such as libraries, Citizens Advice and road gritting. The care budget must also be cut. Its Conservative leader David Fothergill wanted the government to see the impact of its policies.

For 10 months we followed the council and its intrepid director of adult social services, Stephen Chandler. It was a rollercoaster. Eight dementia-care centres were shut, leaving some people struggling to care for their elderly relatives. In a huge county, rural travel payments to help low-paid care workers with the cost of the extra miles involved were withdrawn.

We chose eight families to focus on. Their stories are heartbreaking, yet also inspiring. The patience, loyalty and courage of the carers – and the acceptance of their situation by those they care for – is a revelation. We saw vulnerable people forced to move as care homes closed, families desperately navigating the arcane funding system, and those with no families to fight for them going without care. Yet the social workers and managers are also exemplary, keeping on keeping on despite scarce resources.

Take Martine, who is only 37. She married David four years ago. She has arthritis. When they had triplets, it worsened dramatically, incapacitating her. She needs help to take her medications, and even turn in bed. David, a motor mechanic, believed no company would tolerate the frequent interruptions to return home to help Martine. He is now self-employed. David does the lion’s share of raising the three boys, now aged three. The council provided a nanny some of the time. His nights are largely sleepless: sometimes due to the boys’ or Martine’s needs. The situation is exhausting. But they never complained. That is what love looks like.

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Each family coped with extreme demands on their time, energy, patience, and love. It was deeply moving. At our preview screening, the economist Andrew Dilnot – author of the Dilnot Report on Social Care – said he wept. Anyone who doesn’t, has no heart.This is a national crisis, facing one in four of us now – or soon. As medical advances keep us alive, we must grasp that our care system is badly out of date. It needs a drastic overhaul, using present and future demographics, before it collapses under increasing demand.

Financial sweeteners are only gestures. Last winter, the government gave Somerset an extra £10m for potholes, and only £2m for care. Ministers must reorder their priorities.

The next prime minister can make history by revamping the care system: the grandest project of them all. We should all ensure friends, family, and especially MPs, see these films and do something. Watch out – the car about to crash is heading for you.

• Roger Graef is executive producer of Care in Crisis: Part one: Who Cares airs on 29 May at 9pm, BBC1. Part two: Who Pays? is on 5 June at 9pm. He writes in a personal capacity