Supporting Southern Cross

With the news of care provider Southern Cross facing ‘financial chaos’ should we all be jumping on the bandwagon to point from a distance and slam the group by reporting service user fears for their future, the thousands of pending job losses and just about anything else to further depreciate their current share value any further, or would it be better to get behind them and consider this an early warning to us all regarding the true state of our social care system in the UK.

I’ve been reading countless articles which all seem to state that this ‘sudden crisis’ has sparked urgent questions about the future of care…  Well where on earth have you been?  An event of this scale has been on the cards for years and when you read between the lines, it comes as no surprise that this is a direct consequence of public spending cuts, reduced fees to private care providers and the rising costs of near enough everything required to operate properly.  Let’s face it, we’re all feeling the ‘pinch’ in one way or another and most of us can notice the difference when running our average family dwelling, so just imagine the impact of these rises across 700+ fully operational 24/7 care and nursing homes!

I’m all for the government having to do what it can to find our way out of debt, but if they don’t begin to pay attention to some of the country’s ‘essential’ sectors, then in the end there will be very little to save at all!

It’s not like Southern Cross haven’t been completely up front about their circumstance either and have actually entered into ‘talks’ with the government for months, but is anybody really listening anymore, or are they all just hoping that the situation sorts itself out while they’re ‘out to lunch’?

So is now the time for us to start paying attention?  Should we begin to take action rather than ignoring the issue until it affects us directly as individuals?  With experts constantly warning of the ‘crippling’ cost of care to the UK economy maybe we should all be giving our futures more consideration before it’s too late…

In summary, to take a quote from Dr Ros Altmann, Director General of Saga  “There are only so many ways that we can say ‘there is no money for care.’  Savers aren’t saving for it, families aren’t planning for it, local authorities have next to no budget for it, and the government seems blind to it.”

Are you concerned? Share your thoughts and possible solutions please.