Britain’s social care system could “at last” see a transformation under Andy Burnham, Nadra Ahmed has told GB News.
Speaking to the People’s Channel, the Executive Chairman of the National Care Association praised the Prime Minister for his “confident” and “passionate” address, outlining his plans to improve the system.
Unveiling his plans at a care home in London, Mr Burnham detailed his three-step plan to transform social care for Britons.
He confirmed Baroness Louise Casey will bring forward her review into social care by a year, admitting he wants it “even sooner” but has to “be realistic”.
The Prime Minister also called for a reform to the social care workforce to “lift it closer to NHS standards”, declaring care workers should be the “best paid in society, not the worst”.
Reacting to the announcement, Ms Ahmed told GB News she was left feeling optimistic for the care sector under Mr Burnham’s Government.
She said: “I think Baroness Casey herself had said that she could come in earlier, and that was when she was giving evidence to the social care committee, so I think that was not unexpected that they would do that, so I think that’s right.
“And I don’t think it was a huge surprise to many people, the fact that they’ve chosen to launch that big conversation today. I think that is also what was expected.”
Nadra Ahmed told GB News there could be a transformation in social care under Andy Burham
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GB NEWS / PA
The Prime Minister was praised by Ms Ahmed for his “confident” delivery of his planned reforms.
She said: “It was a very confident performance. It was something that he has really put his reputation on the line about. Every word that he spoke was really very, very passionately spoken about social care.
“My question to myself as I was listening to some of it was, having been in the sector for 45 years, am I watching at last, that transformation of the value of social care?”
The chairman added: “The proof is always in the pudding, words are cheap, so we’ll have to wait and see what comes out.”
Andy Burnham has declared care workers should be the ‘best paid in society, not the worst’
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POOLAsked what other reforms to the system she would like to see, Ms Ahmed stressed the care sector needs “professional recognition” on a domestic level.
She said: “The reason that we have had to go down the route of international recruitment, which is far more expensive, it isn’t the preferred option, we really do need that domestic option in place.
“And why do people not choose social care as a career of choice? The answer is in the question, because they don’t see it as a career.
“And here we have him talking about it being valued in the way that we have been calling for it to be valued, highly skilled, delivering health care tasks. So it needs that professional recognition, but it also needs the value of the pay.”
Nadra Ahmed told GB News there needs to be ‘more UK-based workers’ within the care system
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GB NEWS
Ms Ahmed called for more UK-based workers to be recruited into care alongside Mr Burnham’s reforms to further improve the system.
She concluded: “We do need to have a workforce that is from within the UK, people who may not have thought about social care as a career of choice. We need to be encouraging them and some of that will be to do with the pay.
“We know the cost of living crisis, we know people have got to pay their mortgages, bringing up children, it’s not cheap anymore. But it also needs that professionalisation status so that we don’t have to rely on an international workforce.
“And let’s be honest, both health and social care have always relied on some element of an international workforce, you can get that when you walk into a hospital right now, but they are excluded from any of the challenges that the social care sector has.”