Lansley calls for a decision on long-term care

Andrew Lansley stressed we need serious, costed proposals on long-term care rather than more debate following the publication of Labour's Social Care Green Paper.

Labour's Health Secretary, Andy Burnham, refused to confirm how any of their proposals would be paid for, saying, "At this stage we're talking about the principle rather than the detail of these models."

Andrew, the Shadow Health Secretary, warned, "All we have today is yet another document, long on options and short on costs and conclusions, published late, in the hope it will see them through to an election when it will no longer be their problem. It isn't good enough."

He stressed, "We don't need to start another debate. One debate always seems to roll into another with this Government. We need a decision, and we need serious, costed proposals to be the basis of that decision."

Andrew called for a "partnership approach" to long-term care which enables the creation of a sufficient pool of contributions and risk:

"We need a system where people can be sure their care needs are supported; a system which raises the quality of care in people's homes; a system which reverses the decline in productivity in the social care sector; a system which ends the scandal of people being forced to sell their home or lose their lifetime savings - simply because they are unfortunate enough to need long-term care; a system which guarantees our older citizens the care and dignity they deserve."