Burnham admits dementia patients are treated worse than those with cancer as he promises wage rises for carers on ‘poverty pay’
Andy Burnham said people with dementia and their families receive inadequate support, and that care should be treated with the urgency and coordination often associated with cancer care. Speaking about his late father’s experience, he also promised better pay and career prospects for social care workers through a proposed National Care Service.
Burnham described how his mother struggled with 15-minute home-care visits as her husband’s needs increased, and said one of his father’s carers had been homeless. He called carers’ wages “poverty pay” and said their work had changed his understanding of social care. The article also reports that the Alzheimer’s Society chief executive has criticised the NHS for treating people with dementia as second-class citizens, and says the disease claims about 76,000 lives a year in Britain.
- Burnham says dementia care needs stronger support.
- He promises better pay and prospects for carers.
- His family’s experience included insufficient home-care visits.
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Dementia is a group of conditions that affect memory, thinking and daily life. It can create growing support needs for a person and their family, often involving both health services and social care, such as help at home.
The NHS provides healthcare, while local councils arrange or fund much of the care people receive at home or in residential settings. Social care workers provide practical and personal support, but the sector has faced concerns about low pay and limited career prospects.
Andy Burnham is the mayor of Greater Manchester and a former health secretary. His comments draw on his family’s experience of dementia care and connect calls for better support for patients with proposals to improve pay and career paths for care workers.
Both sides, in good faith
The strongest fair case each way — we don't pick a winner.
The case for
People with dementia and their families deserve support as urgent and coordinated as cancer care, especially when short visits leave relatives struggling to meet growing needs. Better pay and career paths could recognise care workers’ responsibilities, improve recruitment and retention, and make a proposed National Care Service more dependable.
The case against
A cancer-style model may not translate neatly to dementia, which often involves long-term, changing needs that cross health and social care; services should be designed around those differences rather than a direct comparison. Raising pay and building a national service could improve care, but would require sustained funding and careful implementation, and should be weighed against other demands on public resources.