CARE HOMES AND THE HONOURABLE MEMBER FOR SOUTH THANET AND THE RIGHT HONOURABLE MEMBER FOR DARLINGTON

That this House condemns the description made by the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health with responsibility for long-term care, the honourable Member for South Thanet, that too much of the residential care homes business still has a 'workhouse mentality', where older people are seen as 'a commodity to be managed until they die', as reported in the Financial Times on Monday 22nd March; recognises that the vast majority of people who work in the long-term care sector do so entirely honourably as they tirelessly and selflessly dedicate their time and energies to working with some of the most vulnerable and frail members of society; denounces the Government's continued contempt for the long-term care sector as substantiated by those comments in addition to the previous comment made by the honourable Member for South Thanet that 'there is no national crisis in the sector' and comments made by the former Secretary of State for Health, the Right honourable Member for Darlington, who remarked on elderly people being 'banged up in a care home'; finds these appalling comments utterly degrading and demeaning to those who work with great dedication in the long-term care sector; and believes that the long-term sector deserves more from its Ministers.