MP Paul Bristow Visits Us

Age UK Cambridgeshire & Peterborough recently welcomed Paul Bristow MP, to a visit of our Day Services in Peterborough. As a member of the Government's Health and Social Care Select Committee, Paul spent time chatting with service users, carers, volunteers and staff and heard first hand their own local experiences of health and care and how supporting and improving services for older people are more important than ever coming out of the pandemic.

Of the visit Beverley Young, Communications & Campaigns Manager from Age UK Cambridgeshire & Peterborough said:

“ We're all hoping that this nightmare pandemic is finally in retreat, but even if it is millions of older people will still be left coping with the difficult physical and mental after-effects of all they have endured. Every day we hear from older people about the problems they face with social care so we were delighted that Paul got to spend time speaking and listening to the people who are affected by care on a daily basis.

While we continue to campaign for a social care reform and for proper funding the constant Government delays carry a cost -  one paid by people who need care, vast numbers of whom are turned away when they approach their council for help. It’s easy to blame local authorities when this happens, but the responsibility lies squarely with central Government. Councils can only provide a person with care when they have the funding to do so, and when enough care staff can be sourced locally by care agencies to deliver it. Both are now in increasingly short supply in many places, making it harder than ever for older people to get the support they badly need.

“The Prime Minister must keep his promise to “fix social care” fulfilling it would make such a huge difference to older people now and in the future.”