A RECENT Welsh Government announcement to include social care as one of the key priority areas in its new economic strategy has been welcomed by a leading homecare provider in Ystradgynlais.

Abacare says it is delighted that recognition for the sector and its carers is finally being made.

Sam Evans, Registered Manager at Abacare, which has offices in Ystradgynlais and provides care in the area, said: “It’s a tremendous step forward for domiciliary care companies like ourselves to be recognised for our role and for our share in the £3 billion-a-year contribution we help make to the economy and to the communities all over Wales.

“The recent announcement by First Minister Carwyn Jones has given our industry a timely boost when a number of home care companies like ourselves have been struggling with making the general public understand the pressure on services and the negative view there is of care as a career.

“Care provision allows the health service to function in Wales, it provides care for 150,000 people and employs 75,000 people, which is more than five per cent of the Welsh workforce. Our team spends its wages in the communities where they live and work. Plus our care provision allows others to go to work – confident in the knowledge that their loved ones are being well looked after. We’re a vital service.

“It is brilliant that the Welsh Government is now talking up social care as a sector of national strategic importance and has identified the industry as one of its five key pillars of the Welsh economy.”

Abacare’s Managing Director, Peter Angelides has been promoting the need for political and thought leaders to talk up the value and importance of social care for the last five years. He believes that recognising the skill and dedication of the workforce is essential for the on-going success of the industry.

“Social care needs to be seen as an economic positive, a sector that has a high status and value in our society. We also need to view the people providing the care, so our team, as having a significant economic value, as well as other highly important qualities, known sometimes derogatorily as soft-skills.

“We have always pushed for care to be recognised as an economic priority for Wales because it connects everything that we do, it’s the glue that keeps us together. We need a thriving economy to pay for public services but consider too how much the sector saves us as a nation. It enables relatives to remain in employment and to keep economically active, which also boosts their sense of health and well-being.

“What I am now looking forward to in the future is innovation in care and ensuring that it continues to be valued as part of the economy here in Wales, as well as being essential for health and well-being. There’s still lots of work to be done before the nation fully recognises how essential domiciliary care is for all of our well-being going forward and that it’s not something at the underbelly of society, but at the very heart.”