• EVERY week yet more evidence emerges of the scale of the crisis in social care services which in turn is placing additional pressure on over-stretched hospitals.

On February 8 the National Audit Office published a report highlighting the high turnover rate of care workers and nurses in the sector, and the absence of a government strategy to recruit, retain, and develop staff.

It also shows that Camden is particularly reliant on non-British European Economic Area (EEA) care workers. They make up 18.4 per cent of employees, the sixth highest proportion in the UK.

Camden Lib Dems are campaigning for social care to be given higher priority by Camden Council. In particular, we want to learn from Lib Dem-led Sutton council which funds specialist nurses to support people suffering from dementia and their families. This would reduce pressure on the NHS and give more status to this vitally important branch of nursing.

We firmly support the national Lib Dem policy to ask everybody to pay a small amount more in tax to fund an urgent increase in resources for our care and health services.

Finally, the much valued contribution of EEA migrant workers in providing care services to vulnerable people in Camden is one of many reasons why we are pushing for an exit from Brexit.

JAMES KING
Camden Lib Dem
Health and Care Spokesperson