• JOHN Gulliver asked, “who will campaign for a National Care Service?”, (End the scandal: nationalise care homes, July 16).

We hope that the answer is millions of people, and Unison, the trade union for public sector workers, is already part of that campaign.

For years our care homes and the home care service have been starved of government funding and then often sold off to companies that put profit before people.

We all know that once a service starts to be run for profit, the staff are expected to work longer hours for less money, and are so less able to provide the care that our elderly relatives deserve and need. Coronavirus brought that into stark relief.

So, for instance, low-paid agency workers in some parts of the country had more than one job to make ends meet, but that increased the risk for them, residents and other staff.

The government didn’t even count excess deaths in care homes for ages, so that they could pretend they had control of the spread of coronavirus.

And as Boris Johnson talked about people being strong and “fighting off” the virus, it seemed he was leaving the vulnerable behind.

Many of those in care homes are the people who have worked for the NHS, in our schools, on our transport systems, and helped build a post-war society.

No decent society or government would treat its older people like this.

As if that wasn’t bad enough, after weeks of ignoring deaths in care homes to try to salvage his reputation, Johnson turns round and blames them.

This situation cannot go on. John Gulliver is right to call for a “National Care Service”, and Unison has already drawn up a list of demands to be part of that service that include emergency government funding and a real living wage, including sick and holiday pay, for all care workers.

Camden Unison does believe that care homes need to come back into local authority control where there will be greater accountability and they won’t be run for profit. But to make that work there needs to be a serious campaign for greater government funding and for a “National Care Service”.

LIZ WHEATLEY Branch Secretary
PHOEBE WATKINS Branch Chair
Camden UNISON