Andy Burnham MP, Labour’s Shadow Health Secretary, responding to the Nuffield Trust’s report on a quarter of a million loosing social care support since 2010, said:

“On David Cameron’s watch, hundreds of thousands of people have lost support in the home. Millions more have seen care charges spiral upwards and now struggle to pay for the support they need. Since the election, Ministers have taken almost £2 billion out of budgets for adult social care.

“We will never get the care we need from a system where care is dished out in 15-minute slots, forcing over-stretched care workers to choose between feeding people or helping them wash.

“Things are close to collapse but David Cameron is in denial. Labour is committed to a genuinely integrated NHS and social care system which properly supports older people in their own community.”