“We hope the government will work with us all to solve the problems and create the change we want”

Blog from Scott Watkin – Paid Supporter Representative of Learning Disability England

On Tuesday I was at a reception at the Science Museum in London.

It was hosted by the Department of Health and Social Care to talk about the NHS 10 Year Plan big consultation.

There were about 100 people there I think. All people who work in health and social care and other membership organisations like Learning Disability England. I was there to represent Learning Disability England members

I heard Wes Streeting say:

  • The Government has a commitment to including disabled people in all the new plans
  • He wants to work with organisations as partners not stakeholders
  • Social Care is included in the plans and is not forgotten

I think the government want to be ambitious and make big changes.

This is all good and I hope we can work together to make it happen – Disabled people must be partners too and active in the changes.

I plan to check with the Minister it does include us.

Lots of Learning Disability England members are really worried about the budget though and how services, benefits, community support and funding of all kinds will be in the next year.

We do need money to stop some things getting worse – that includes enough money for Councils to pay for social care support and community groups.

We hope the government will work with us all to solve the problems and create the change we want.

Family and Friends Representatives also attended the launch event this week for the new online platform.

Read their blog here