Farron joins South Lakes Age Concern at mass lobby of Parliament

South Lakeland MP Tim Farron yesterday joined local supporters of Age Concern and Help the Aged in a mass lobby of Parliament as part of their week of action to promote the need for quality care for older people. Jenny Launder of South Lakes Age Concern led a team of five people from our area to attend the lobby.

Over a million people aged 65 and over receive care and support. While many receive care and support that is of high quality, the current care system continues to leave thousands of older people with poor quality care. During the lobby, Mr Farron gave his full backing to the campaign by Age Concern and Help the Aged for older people to receive high quality of care that meets their individual needs.

The average age of citizens in South Lakeland is 11 years higher than the average age of citizens across the UK as a whole. The need to support older people in our area is even greater than in other parts of the country.

Commenting Mr Farron said:

"While thousands of older people know the current care system is failing, leaving many with poor quality care, the government has time and again refused to accept the need to take responsibility and commit to improving the care system.

"Older people, their families and their carers have the right to expect access to high quality care, but the level of funding given to the current care system makes this impossible. It isn't right that care workers are so poorly paid or that people caring for their loved ones at home have such a dreadful lack of support.

"It's important that the government provides older people with care that is both of the highest quality but which is also tailored to their individual needs.

"To do this the they must adopt a cohesive national care strategy by providing better training and financial support for health and social care staff to ensure that older people are given the best available care."