Government moves to address "bed blocking" represent more of a short term fix than a long term solution, writes Janice Robinson

last year a king's fund inquiry warned of a "looming crisis" in care services. It found that both residential and home care services for older people were starved of funds and facing a major shortage of sufficiently skilled and trained care workers. In some areas, the situation was so bad that care workers were better off working in supermarkets and DIY stores. The inquiry warned that if care services deteriorated further, thousands of older people would get inadequate, or no, care, putting the government's ambitions for the NHS at risk.

A year later the government has begun to take action to address the problem. The Chancellor's annual six per cent rise in funding for social services over three years should help to stabilise a care market that has seen many residential homes close in recent years. Industrial action has also led to a promise that the lowest paid local authority staff would receive 10 per cent increases in their salaries next year. But this may not be enough. It represents more of a short term fix than a long term solution.

While the extra money for social services is an improvement, it may not be sufficient to bring about long term improvements. Given the serious funding shortages currently being experienced, it may be enough to get care services back on an even keel, but not sufficient to achieve noticeable improvements in service quality nor to attract or keep sufficient staff of the right calibre. Against this background, the proposal to fine local authorities every time they are unable to arrange timely post-hospital care could be a further drain on resources or could force them to divert funding from other services.

Pay rises for low paid council workers are, of course, welcome. But they will not necessarily extend to those who work for council-funded care homes and home care services provided by the private sector - where average pay is often little better than the minimum wage. Unless contracts between social services departments and care businesses include provision for improved pay and training, there is little prospect of better care being offered.

Care services have long been the poor relations of the NHS. Older people, often seen as a drain on national resources, are treated as an inconvenience to be kept out of the way and cared for as cheaply as possible. But as more people live longer into old age, their voting power increases and that position is no longer sensible, let alone ethical.

Earlier this year Derek Wanless' report into the future funding needs of the NHS made it clear that any improvement in health care was tied inextricably to expansion in social services. He argued that any future reports of the same ilk should include consideration of social care. Such a thorough examination of the future funding needs of this neglected corner of our public services could make significant extra investment a politically realistic proposition.

More must also be done to tackle the staffing crisis looming in care services. Care workers need to receive more and better training. This will only happen if the thousands of small care businesses that are prevalent in the care sector have better access to training funds for their staff. The pay and conditions of care workers also need to be improved, with employers paying a decent rate for the job, rewarding the better skilled and qualified. And there is an urgent need to instigate a system of registration that will offer better protection from abuse for vulnerable people. Crucially the status of care work needs a major boost. Caring for older people is a demanding and skilled job. It takes not merely skill but commitment and understanding.

Everyone in society should be able to expect the care that they and their parents receive in old age will be of a high quality, delivered by high calibre staff. To achieve this, we must raise the status, pay and skills of care workers. A failure to take this agenda seriously now could become an electoral liability within just a few years.