With a new report published today on the health of the National Health Service (NHS), National Care Forum CEO Vic Rayner has given her response to the document.

The organisation stated that the Lord Darzi’s investigation “makes shocking, but sadly unsurprising reading”.

Rayner said: “As Lord Darzi has highlighted, it will be impossible to fix the broken NHS without high-quality social care.

“He rightly points out that social care ‘is a vital service in its own right, helping people with disabilities, and all of us we age, to lead full and independent lives for as long as possible’, but this value has simply not been recognised, nor has it been invested in.

“Without high-quality adult social care, it will be impossible to sustain economic growth, tackle inequalities or deal with wider issues in public services – and ultimately, enable people to live their lives to the full.

“We now need to see positive action on adult social care. In the past few days we have heard some welcome statements from the government about the need to grapple with the immediate challenges as well as the long-term ones.

“There is time, political capital, and the expertise of a united social care sector to make this happen.

“We urge the government to chart a course with adult social care at its centre and we stand ready to help transform adult social care for the millions who work in it and, most vitally, draw upon it.”