Ms Celine Clarke:

The Chair mentioned the situation with home carers being undervalued. How does somebody who needs care, who is in the middle of that discussion about what we deliver, feel about it? It is desperately important those older people participate in the conversation about what they need. It should not be done through digital means, since they cannot participate. Some 65% of people over the age of 65 experience digital exclusion. Most of what we do is done online. They should be in charge of the determination of what they need. At no point in our lives do we diminish ourselves such that we cannot determine what we need or participate in the conversation about our needs except when we are over the age of 65 and need care. We fundamentally need to root out the ageism in our society, our processes and our institutional approaches to how we manage our ageing population in general. Until we do that, we will not value care or the carer and we will not resolve the problem.