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Simon Bottery @blimeysimon.bsky.social · 13/09/2025

Fantastic headline. Too unusual (and too good) a story to look too hard for morals but there something here about the desire for independence, isn’t there? #socialcare www.bbc.com/news/article...

bbc.com

Defiant nuns flee Austrian care home for their abandoned convent in the Alps - BBC News

Sisters Bernadette, Regina and Rita needed a locksmith to get back into their convent, defying Church leaders.

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Simon Bottery @blimeysimon.bsky.social · 07/07/2025

Interesting to see in print the government's three 'core objectives' for adult #socialcare. They are sensible and coherent, even if they do skip over the key issue of eligibility. A surprise, though, to see them at all after a year when social care strategy was largely avoided.

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Simon Bottery @blimeysimon.bsky.social · 18/06/2025

Central government has focused too much on monitoring relatively small grants and too little on working out what impact our overall spend on adult #socialcare has on the lives of people. That’s one key finding of MPs in a new report today. committees.parliament.uk/publications...

committees.parliament.uk

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Simon Bottery @blimeysimon.bsky.social · 16/06/2025

Despite the dramatic headline, it seems that Casey has simply decided to meet the parties separately at first and bring them together later. It should be quite hard to work up to a ‘fury’ about that. #socialcare www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/202...

telegraph.co.uk

Fury as Labour drops cross-party talks to fix social care crisis

Gathering with health representatives from opposition political parties called off at last minute branded a ‘missing opportunity’

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Simon Bottery @blimeysimon.bsky.social · 11/06/2025

If you want to know how today's spending review affects #socialcare, you are going to have to wait. There is no clear sum to fund a fair pay agreement and promises of 'over £4bn' for social care in 2028/29 are unclear. Puzzled, frustrated thread > news.sky.com/story/spendi...

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Reposted by Simon Bottery

Global Observatory of Long-Term Care @goltc.bsky.social · 09/06/2025

NEW COUNTRY PROFILE: #England 🌍 In this system profile, @blimeysimon.bsky.social (@thekingsfund.bsky.social) and @natashacurry.bsky.social (@nuffieldtrust.org.uk) unpack the country's long-term care system. 🔍 Read now: goltc.org/system-profi...

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Simon Bottery @blimeysimon.bsky.social · 09/06/2025

This is the sort of news story care homes need. While it is of course nice to read about exotic animal visits (and there are lots of those stories in local newspapers), this is the one that makes people reassess their image of residential care. #socialcare www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-e...

chroniclelive.co.uk

'We moved into the same nursing home and found the friendship of a lifetime'

Peter and Kathleen met at Archers Court Nursing Care Home in Sunderland and are now inseparable

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Simon Bottery @blimeysimon.bsky.social · 21/05/2025

Fed up with headlines claiming #socialcare is responsible for specific - and usually high - numbers of delayed discharge? After crunching the data we can say that… we just don’t know the true figure, because we stopped asking. Time to start again, though. www.kingsfund.org.uk/insight-and-...

kingsfund.org.uk

Delayed Discharges: Why It’s Hard To Say How Many Are Due To Social Care Capacity | The King's Fund

We don’t know how many delayed discharges are due to lack of social care capacity, say Simon Bottery and Sarah Arnold, and that’s because we stopped counting.

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Simon Bottery @blimeysimon.bsky.social · 21/05/2025

In your lifetime, you are more likely than not to develop #dementia or care for someone with it, a new @CareQualityComm report reminds us. That’s a strong, self-interest argument for a fairer, better funded #socialcare system, isn’t it? www.cqc.org.uk/publications...

cqc.org.uk

Health and social care support for people with dementia - Care Quality CommissionFacebookTwitterYouTube

A review of the experiences of people with dementia and how health and care services are responding

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Simon Bottery @blimeysimon.bsky.social · 19/05/2025

Interesting @thefabians report which - for me - begs questions about the extent to which pay should be the immediate #socialcare priority. Crudely, should you ‘blow the budget’ on it or accept more limited change and investment in other areas? Thread🔽 fabians.org.uk/publication/...

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Simon Bottery @blimeysimon.bsky.social · 15/05/2025

Valuable new @HealthFdn report on the potential cost of improved #socialcare. It considers three ‘levels’ of improvement and finds cost rises of between £3.4bn and £8.7bn in 2028/29 (all figures are real terms). Quick summary and some thoughts below 🔽 www.health.org.uk/reports-and-...

health.org.uk

Adult social care funding pressures: 2023–35

We project the costs of meeting growing demand for adult social care in England and making some improvements to care up to 2034/35.

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Simon Bottery @blimeysimon.bsky.social · 13/05/2025

Care providers may struggle to win over the public on new immigration rules, suggests this large @YouGov poll. Nearly half (47%) support the govt reducing the no. of people migrating to work in #socialcare while a third (33%) oppose it. Big differences by politics/age though… 🔽

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Simon Bottery @blimeysimon.bsky.social · 12/05/2025

The issue here is not so much the principle as the timing. It’s right we should end reliance on overseas #socialcare workers and improving pay, which the govt plans to do, should help achieve that. But that potential pay increase is a long way off… www.theguardian.com/society/2025...

theguardian.com

Labour axing care worker visa will put services at risk, say unions and care leaders

White paper proposes banning new recruitment from abroad despite care sector relying heavily on foreign workers

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Simon Bottery @blimeysimon.bsky.social · 05/05/2025

The new @CommonsHealth report is a robust critique of the ‘do nothing/delay’ approach to #socialcare reform. It finds too little data to answer its own exam question - what is the cost of doing nothing - but points to some ways forward. V short thread 🔽 www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

bbc.co.uk

Doing nothing on social care is untenable, MPs warn

The report says failure to fix England's social care system carries an unknown human and financial cost.

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Simon Bottery @blimeysimon.bsky.social · 02/05/2025

The terms of reference for the Casey #socialcare commission are published today (though staff have been working for a while). There are concerns, particularly timing, but they should offer the scope Baroness Casey needs to do a thorough job. Thread below ⬇️ www.gov.uk/government/p...

gov.uk

Independent commission into adult social care: terms of reference

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Simon Bottery @blimeysimon.bsky.social · 30/04/2025

Despite being 40% of a typical council's spending, adult #socialcare often seems missing in local election debate. So credit to @Kent_Online for asking each party what they'd do about it locally - the results are fascinating (summary in the thread below). www.kentonline.co.uk/kent/news/pa...

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Simon Bottery @blimeysimon.bsky.social · 25/04/2025

Interesting from @HSJnews (£): hospitals 'increasingly using' fast track CHC to speed up discharges while awaiting #socialcare packages. Yet fast track is typically for end of life care and so may well be the wrong option for many people. www.hsj.co.uk/integrated-c...

hsj.co.uk

‘Unaffordable’ care spending driven by rush to clear hospital beds

The rush from acute hospitals to "free up beds" is probably behind an "unaffordable" rise in an integrated care board's social care spending, it has been told.

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Simon Bottery @blimeysimon.bsky.social · 24/04/2025

"Failing to recognize that a person may consider some states of impairment worse than death is not resident centered or evidence-based". This is thought-provoking research for care homes. #socialcare jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

jamanetwork.com

Cognitive and Functional Decline Among Long-Term Care Residents

This cohort study investigates the incidence of severe cognitive and functional impairment and survival after impairment among long-term care residents in Canada.

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Simon Bottery @blimeysimon.bsky.social · 15/04/2025

There are some positives in the new @DHSCgovuk survey on the #socialcare workforce, conducted in autumn 2024. While 71% of providers found recruitment a challenge, most thought it hadn’t deteriorated and 1 in 5 thought it had improved, as had retention and morale.

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Simon Bottery @blimeysimon.bsky.social · 13/04/2025

Went to the Freud Museum yesterday and discovered that the post box outside the house has been covered with visitor stickers, presumably through the process of transference.

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Simon Bottery @blimeysimon.bsky.social · 09/04/2025

The over-enthusiasm of this headline (the story is about nothing more dramatic than a new qualification for care workers) came on the same day as a report by @TunstallHealth said preventative technology is hamstrung by failure to integrate health and #socialcare budgets. 1/4

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Simon Bottery @blimeysimon.bsky.social · 07/04/2025

A pity there’s nothing about #socialcare in this interesting piece about ‘door-to-door’ NHS services. Crucially, how can a free, universal service work effectively when home care is means-tested and rationed? Now, if you had Scotland’s free personal care system… www.telegraph.co.uk/gift/6ab8f2a...

telegraph.co.uk

NHS sent door-to-door to tackle sickness crisis

Radical scheme tipped to transform healthcare with house calls likened to return of the family doctor

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Reposted by Simon Bottery

Global Observatory of Long-Term Care @goltc.bsky.social · 03/04/2025

Another webinar to get excited about! 🎉 Care #WorkforceRetention: what factors are critical + how they change w/ age? 💼 Join us on Wed 30 April w/ @blimeysimon.bsky.social (@thekingsfund.bsky.social), Janine Dizon, Nicky Baker (ARIIA) + Sarah Gilbert (Skills4Care):👉 lse.zoom.us/meeting/regi...

GOLTC webinar: Care Workforce Retention – what factors are critical and how they change with worker age.
Wed 30 April
9-10am BST
Join on Zoom

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Simon Bottery @blimeysimon.bsky.social · 02/04/2025

Public satisfaction with adult #socialcare remains at an all-time low, with just 13% of people saying they are very or quite satisfied, according to the new British Social Attitudes survey. But we’re still at least 2.5 years away from promise of reform. Short thread ⬇️

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Simon Bottery @blimeysimon.bsky.social · 31/03/2025

Tomorrow, 780,000 #socialcare staff will get a pay rise to bring them up to the new level of the minimum wage. That’s great news for them but also a marker of how poorly paid they were before. And it masks other pay-related issues showing the weakness of the sector. Thread ⬇️

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Simon Bottery @blimeysimon.bsky.social · 24/03/2025

'We're not going to be able to make the NHS hum beautifully unless we sort out the #socialcare system'. There's a big focus on care in this excellent @AlisonHoltBBC #bbcpanorama special airing tonight, including an interview with @wesstreeting 1/3 www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/epis...

bbc.co.uk

Panorama - Fixing the NHS: What Will It Take?

Alison Holt speaks to the doctors, researchers and frontline staff transforming their parts of the NHS to deliver better care.

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Simon Bottery @blimeysimon.bsky.social · 13/03/2025

“This government has certainly started something. But I don’t know how this is all meant to end. And more worryingly, I’m not sure who does.” Siva Anandaciva on the abolition of NHS England. www.kingsfund.org.uk/insight-and-...

kingsfund.org.uk

The Reshaping Of NHS National Bodies Has Only Just Started. How Will It Finish? | The King's Fund

Following the announcement that NHS England is to be abolished, Siva Anandaciva considers the implications and why at the moment there are more questions than answers.

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Simon Bottery @blimeysimon.bsky.social · 13/03/2025

Health and #socialcare often seem like they are going in different directions: here we have @NHSEngland functions being brought in-house to @DHSCgovuk at the same time as #socialcare policy is being outsourced to an independent commission. www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cx...

bbc.co.uk

Keir Starmer to abolish NHS England and bring health service back under 'democratic control' - live updates

The PM says abolishing

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Simon Bottery @blimeysimon.bsky.social · 13/03/2025

"The most important question is how will the abolition of NHS England make it easier for people to get a GP appointment, shorten waits for planned care and improve people’s health?" The King's Fund response to today's announcement www.kingsfund.org.uk/insight-and-...

kingsfund.org.uk

The King's Fund Responds To Government Plans To Abolish NHS England | The King's Fund

Responding to today's announcement, Sarah Woolnough, CEO of The King's Fund, says that the government must be clear why this significant structural change at this time is necessary, and how it fits in...

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Simon Bottery @blimeysimon.bsky.social · 07/03/2025

I can still vividly remember having a session on toothbrushing at primary school in the 1960s. What most stuck in my mind was advice that, if you don’t have toothpaste you can use salt or - cue howls of disgust from class - soap. And on occasions I have. www.thesun.co.uk/health/33727...

thesun.co.uk

Supervised school toothbrushing starts in weeks as kids' tooth decay soars

A NATIONAL program of toothbrushing at schools and pre-schools will start next month in a bid to stop dental decay. Three, four and five-year-olds will get free brushes and paste donated by Colgate…

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Simon Bottery @blimeysimon.bsky.social · 03/03/2025

Loading unfunded costs on care providers ultimately leads to a ‘doom loop’ in which fewer people receive #socialcare support. That’s the key lesson in this year’s Social Care 360 report. Here’s a short thread on the key findings ⬇️ www.kingsfund.org.uk/insight-and-...

kingsfund.org.uk

Social Care 360 | The King's Fund

Explore the key trends in adult social care in England in our latest 360-degree review.

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Simon Bottery @blimeysimon.bsky.social · 28/02/2025

Which #socialcare staff have the highest wellbeing at work? According to this newly released @DHSCgovuk survey, it’s personal assistants. Care workers and - perhaps more surprisingly - social workers/nursing associates are at the bottom. Lots more in the report : thread here ⬇️

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Simon Bottery @blimeysimon.bsky.social · 25/02/2025

It was always going to be a tough ask to get cross party support for #socialcare reform but this difficulty, according to ⁦‪@BBCNews‬⁩, is administrative rather than ideological. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

bbc.co.uk

Social care: First cross-party talks on reforms postponed

The five largest parties in England were due to meet this week - but the BBC has learned the talks have been cancelled.

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Simon Bottery @blimeysimon.bsky.social · 24/02/2025

Here’s the classic error of assuming that what applies to the NHS must also apply to #socialcare. Yet you can’t simply apply the planned NHS ‘shifts’ described here - hospital to community, sickness to prevention and analogue to digital - to social care. 1/5 www.standard.co.uk/news/politic...

standard.co.uk

Social care must be ‘modernised’ to help councils on brink of bankruptcy - minister

London’s boroughs have warned that they have faced ‘rocketing demand for social care’

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Simon Bottery @blimeysimon.bsky.social · 22/02/2025

Whether or not you’re religious, this is good on community action in #socialcare. It draws on @annadixonmp.bsky.social #reimaginingcare report, which made a critical point about the need to agree the roles of individuals, families, communities and govt in care. www.thetimes.com/article/b56f...

thetimes.com

Churches can help solve the social care crisis

It is about attending to people’s physical, social and emotional needs so that we can all live a full life

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Simon Bottery @blimeysimon.bsky.social · 17/02/2025

We know that council tax is a bad way of funding adult #socialcare because it raises less money in areas with highest demand for publicly-funded care. But here’s another reason from @resfoundation - council tax puts more of a burden on low income families than wealthier ones. 1/3

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Simon Bottery @blimeysimon.bsky.social · 05/02/2025

This @TheIFS analysis of the 2025/26 local government finance settlement calculates it’s a 6.4% real terms increase. While substantial, it will still be a stretch to fund extra #socialcare costs, driven especially by the NICs increases for care providers. ifs.org.uk/articles/ifs...

ifs.org.uk

Response to the final English local government finance settlement | Institute for Fiscal Studies

2025–26 will continue the substantial above-inflation increases in funding for English councils, but their costs have also been outpacing inflation.

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Simon Bottery @blimeysimon.bsky.social · 04/02/2025

I saw this and just had to look up the numbers: councils in fact spend 34 times as much on adult #socialcare as they do on streetlighting. Yet streetlighting is - literally - a more visible service so you can understand its equivalence in the headline. inews.co.uk/news/politic...

inews.co.uk

Streetlighting and social care at risk as councils warn of 'severe' cuts

County councils warn of cuts to frontline services despite council tax rise

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