Today, in the House of Commons, Munira urged Matt Hancock, Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, to invest in social care before the onset of a Covid-19 second wave.
This follows the Government’s recent announcement to invest £3bn into the NHS to help them prepare for a second wave of Covid-19 coinciding with the winter flu crisis. The Government did not announce a similar investment towards social care.
Speaking in the House of Commons, Munira said:
“The £3 billion for the NHS is, of course, welcome, and the Secretary of State has rightly spoken passionately about protecting the NHS, but may I respectfully remind him that he is the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care?
I have real concerns about social care being overwhelmed if there is a second surge, with hospitals having to discharge people into the community quickly, as we have seen with the first wave. What further package of support will he announce for social care?”
Matt Hancock replied:
“Of course it is important to support social care as well, as we have financially right from the start. The vast majority of discharges from hospital were into the community, with care packages. Social care is a very important part of this issue. We announced the money for the NHS last week, but we continue to look at what we can do to support social care too.”
You can watch the video of Munira speaking in the Chamber here: