How much do we care?

Calls for OAP homes to be nationalised

- Alan Selby and Dan Warburton

VOICES from across the political spectrum are calling for social care to be nationalised as the Covid-19 crisis pushes our OAP homes to the brink of collapse.

Tory peer Ros Altmann, a former pensions minister, is leading demands for radical change to prevent a catastrophe in the “financially unsustainable” sector.

She warns looking after our 500,000 care home residents is now “a game of financial pass the parcel where hedge fund companies cash in on company debts”.

And she adds bluntly: “Unfortunately, the parcels are old people’s lives – there’s nothing to stop them in this system.”

Covid-19 has claimed the lives of at least 7,000 residents so far. Baroness Altmann told the Sunday People: “It’s possible we may need to nationalise the sector. We cannot let these companies go bust.

“They are heavily loaded with debt and unless owners are willing to put equity in – which they haven’t been – they are not financially sustainable.

“This is not new and there has never been proper control over financial backing for homes. With Covid-19, the sector has come crashing down because it’s not integrated into the health service.

“The coronavirus crisis in care homes is a continuation of the broken system that has been getting worse for years. What this has done is created a disaster for the most frail and vulnerable in our society.