THE General Synod voted overwhelmingly for a motion urging the Government to attract on the report of the Archbishops’ Commission on Care and its give attention to the notion of covenant, because it delivers its manifesto commitment to making a National Care Service. The report called for a transparent Christian vision to fix the social-care system: a plan of motion that may give equal dignity to everyone
Introducing the controversy on the Tuesday, the Archbishop of Canterbury hoped that the Independent Commission on Social Care, chaired by Baroness Casey, would “initiate a national conversation about care”.
Too many individuals struggled to get access to care, too many councils struggled to offer it, and more of the burden was falling on unpaid carers, the Archbishop said. This meant that two million people over the age of 65 and 1.5 million of working age didn’t get the care that they needed; and others “is probably not getting the fitting care in the fitting place”.
The Archbishop commended each social prescribing as “a way of engaging with health and care services that permits people to access the wonderful activities already run by churches” and the work of the Church Urban Fund in equipping and resourcing them.
The motion commended good practice, the “excellent and context-specific work of parishes” that helped people to flourish. Ruth Allan (Guildford) spoke of Hymns for All, which took hymn-singing into care and community settings. Hymns were “a part of our DNA”, and remained so even for those whose memories were now impaired.
Sandra Turner (Chelmsford) praised the heat, welcome, and good outcomes of lunch clubs for individuals who were alone. David Ashton (Leeds) confirmed this: “We visit them, we see them, we’re blissful to be with them: there’s a link between people being alone at home and the way the mind deteriorates afterward,” he said.
Shayne Ardron (Leicester) was an advocate of holistic care of “others and ourselves”. She spoke of her mother’s dementia and the signs of the Spirit’s presence even when body, mind, and spirit had all been damaged by the illness: “We are greater than our minds.”
The Commission’s “compelling” vision couldn’t be realised unless the shortage of the workforce was addressed, Abigail Ogier (Manchester) said. An adult social-care employee, she said that, while staff had been acclaimed “heroes” in the course of the pandemic, recognition was “painfully short-lived. Social care is once more being treated as an afterthought.”
Canon Alice Kemp (Bristol) spoke of society’s dismissive attitudes to disabled people. Her son has complex needs, but was now, she said, flourishing in residential care. “A creative care system predicates that each one are made within the image of God and loved and valued.”
The Revd James McCluskey (Chelmsford) reminded the Synod that the National Care Covenant was backed by strategy and funding in providing for a pastoral and sacramental position. “We’ve got to resource the parishes with clergy. Ask the Archbishops’ Council to make sure this.”
Alison Coulter (Winchester) said: “The biggest nettle to know is money. [Funding] for social care grew by just half a per cent.” There could possibly be a chance now for “a wider societal conversation about what we wish and the way we’ll fund it”.
Prebendary Rosie Austin (Exeter) spoke of the issue of access to care in rural areas, and the various individuals who couldn’t be discharged from hospital due to an absence of carers. “Rural residents face systematic exclusion without transport,” she said.
Professor Peter Harris (Southwell & Nottingham), who worked within the NHS, applauded the Commission’s vision as “the present way forward”. Social-care needs needed to be tackled “collectively between the Church and the Government, not independently”, he said.
The Revd Martin Poole (Chichester) spoke of the frustration in regards to the position of overseas staff across all NHS Trusts, who needed to return to their country of origin because their salaries couldn’t be increased to the extent required for them to remain.
The Revd Dr Susan Lucas (Chelmsford) spoke of her 97-year-old mother, who had been capable of “live and die well” due to “the care we were capable of put in place for her, which must be open to everyone: equitable, relational, locally delivered”.
The Bishop of Chelmsford, Dr Guli Francis-Dehqani, found a transparent overlap between social care and housing. The lack of retirement homes, or the unsuitability of different housing, was forcing many elderly or disabled people to struggle on alone in large houses, she said. She applauded recent intergenerational communities as a creative way of responding to that challenge, and urged parishes and dioceses to explore possibilities.
The Revd Dr Charlie Baczyk-Bell (Southwark), who worked in forensic mental health, spoke of the damage that failure to take care of victims’ mental health problems could bring.
Fiona MacMillan (London) described herself as “a disabled woman of working age in receipt of support”, and spoke of the constraints to living when funding ran out. “Churches have a very important role to assist people to flourish as they’re,” she said.
Jane Evans (Leeds) compared the £400,000 every week earned by a footballer with the £400 earned by a carer on the minimum wage. “What does that say about us as a society?” she asked. “Care is a calling. If we don’t value it properly, we’re saying something deeply troubling about what matters to us as a society. If our treasure is entertainment and profit, then our hearts should not where Jesus needs them to be.”
The motion was carried by 245-0 with one recorded abstention. It read:
That this Synod:
(a) endorse the report of the Archbishops’ Commission on Reimagining Care and its vision for changing how adult social care is perceived, organised, delivered and experienced;
(b) commend the wonderful and context-specific work of parishes to be sure that all people, made within the image of God, are supported to flourish, and encourage churches to learn from each other by sharing examples of excellent practice;
(c) note the necessity to draw on the views, voices and experiences of disabled people and older people in policy matters which particularly affect them;
(d) call on HM Government to attract on the Archbishops’ Commission’s report and its give attention to the notion of covenant because it delivers on its manifesto commitment to create a National Care Service.
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