



Governments of all hues have failed to make social care and those who need it a priority.” Many of these difficult challenges could have been eased had warnings been heeded. Natasha Curry, deputy director of policy at the Nuffield Trust, said: “Those early months exposed … weaknesses within social care that impacted the shape, speed and effectiveness of the response. One social care representative told the study about a meeting hosted by the then prime minister Boris Johnson and Hancock in February 2020 at which “ … could not get air time for social care’s issues” unless it was about the NHS’s requirements.
