Labor promises to kick financial 'sharks' out of care homes with fair pay for workers

A National Care Service will be set up as Labor's 'unfinished business' after its historic founding of the NHS in 1947 - starting with ensuring proper pay and training for carers.

Shadow Health and Care Secretary West Streeting today pledges to kick out the financial ‘sharks’ who have taken over the country’s nursing homes and reverse falling standards in our facilities for the elderly.

Financial giants that suck tax dollars in the form of profits by burdening retirement homes with huge debts while based in overseas tax havens will be kicked out.

In a victory for the Mirror's Fair Care for All campaign, Labor would guarantee fair pay, full rights at work and adequate training for care workers under a new charter agreed with unions.

As Labor traveled to Liverpool for its annual conference, Wes told the Mirror of his own visits to care homes as a local councilor, when he said to himself, "I wouldn't want to end here and I wouldn't want someone I love to end up here."

Shadow Health Secretary Wes Streeting presents major welfare reform, ahead of the Labor Party Conference in Liverpool (

Picture:

Julian Hamilton/Daily Mirror)

He said, "I looked at people's quality of life and found it distressing to be honest. That's not how we should be spending the last few years in the departure lounge of the life.

"I don't want people to spend their day in misery.

"What disgusts me is that there are so many nursing home providers like family homes and in the voluntary sector and they will all tell you the same thing: there are not enough investments to provide a good service.

"Yet there are sharks in the system, capable of wasting millions of pounds of taxpayers' money on tax evasion and debt servicing.

"This is a total injustice to the families who depend on care and we are not going to put up with it."

Sweeping new regulations will weed out private equity firms that fail to meet decent care standards and operate financially – including paying taxes – if Labor wins the general election.

Investment giants extract funds from healthcare providers by burdening them with huge debts, with debt payments often owed to another company within the same corporate structure.

This extraction means that it is impossible for many retirement homes to make a profit, so they pay little tax and are forced to limit salaries and staff numbers to remain viable.

Over 30 years this has led to lower standards of care, with the UK model increasingly dominated by private providers.