Responding to the news that the Prime Minister is set to announce his social care plans in the coming week, RCN General Secretary and Chief Executive, Professor Nicola Ranger, said:

"The Prime Minister is right to prioritise social care reform but the devil will be in the detail. For decades now, politicians have promised the world on adult social care and delivered very little, leaving many vulnerable people and their families without adequate care and support. The nursing profession will be encouraged by the government's attempts to finally grasp the nettle and the RCN is ready to support them to get this right."

"One of the key issues that urgently needs to be fixed is funding reform, including how funding for social care is accessed. Patients frequently spend long periods of time waiting to be discharged because the funding required to move them elsewhere cannot be obtained, despite there being the capacity to take them in social care.

"This fault in the system leads to dangerous and degrading long stays and corridor care in hospitals. Any policy announced this week, must fix the silos between health and social care that make the system less effective."

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