Five Nations Care Forum Communiqué – April 2024
Representative bodies for residential and home care providers from The Five Nations of England, Northern Ireland, The Republic of Ireland, Scotland and Wales met in Nottingham to discuss the major issues and challenges for the care sector, across our various countries.
Regulation, international recruitment, funding and the COVID-19 public inquiries featured heavily in our discussions. We were united in our belief that there is a need for a long-term and strategic approach to social care across every nation.
One of the issues that we discussed at length was the important role of pharmacy in delivering both prevention and support to the people who receive social care. We believe Pharmacists play a vital role in delivering the medication, support and information that is required to enable people who have lots of different co-morbidities to live well. The Pharmacist is a vital part of the health and social care sector and we want to see their role developed, alongside our governments understanding, that they need to be properly resourced to deliver sustainable strategies on immunisation, drug administration and prevention.
Despite the challenges affecting the care sector, the Five Nations Forum believes that with the right support, social care can take its place alongside health systems, as a vital part of national infrastructure.
ENDS