Letter to our MP in the care sector

I am writing to you as the director of a domiciliary care company, Ashwell Home Care Service. We provide home care for those that need it most in and around Malvern and the surrounding rural areas, as well as Worcester St John’s and North Worcester.

The care sector is remarkable. It is resilient, compassionate, and brave. It has stood by the people it helps through the very darkest of times. It has been by the bedsides of the sick and the dying. It has been there for families and friends of the elderly and the ill. It has been there throughout everything. I am honoured to work in the care sector, honoured to be given the chance to help others, to make people’s final years a pleasure, not a penance.

I would like to invite you, my local MPs, my local county councillors to come and experience this world. This world full of people who aren’t driven by profit, but by kindness, people who spend their career serving others, not for the glory or the accolade, but because they believe in the work that they do. The care sector is routinely dismissed by the media, by the powers, but without the care sector, everything else falls apart. The hospitals back up because there aren’t enough carers to allow people back into their homes, A and E waiting times increase, people lie abandoned on trolleys on corridors, doctor’s surgeries become overrun. All because not enough attention is paid to the care industry.

The care industry needs to be acclaimed for all that it does. It needs to be acknowledged, and it needs to be understood. It needs to be respected and revered. Without the care industry, where would we be? Who would be caring for the elderly, who would be there with dignity and compassion? Who would ensure medications were taken, meals were eaten? Would you?

The decisions that you make have far-reaching effects. Come and see what impact your policies will have. Whether you are deciding where to allocate funds or making changes to local policy, each action has a consequence. We understand that the decisions that you have to make are complex and difficult, that funding is never infinite, and that you cannot help everyone all of the time. But let us give you the opportunity to be informed. Come and spend time with us, with our care companions, our clients. Don’t just look at figures on paper, come and meet the people behind the numbers. At Ashwell Home Care Services, we take great pride in the work that we do, and we would love the opportunity to share this with you, to give you a glimpse into our world. A world full of care, and compassion, and love. Come to Ashwell Home Care Services, our doors are always open.