The landmark Social Care Green Paper was heralded as a cure for a system no longer able to cope. But publication has been delayed six times, prompting exasperation from those struggling to treat a rapidly ageing population. Since March 8, 2017, the number of over 65s to have died after making a request for support, but before receiving services, stands at 64,367, equal to 77 a day, according to Age UK analysis.

The charity’s Caroline Abrahams said: “No one can say how many might have lived had they received the help they were due.

“But at the very least their final days and hours were less comfortable than they could have been. “Many are now openly questioning whether the document will ever see the light of day.”

There are 1.4million older people with unmet social care needs.

However, when the Daily Express asked the Department of Health and Social Care for a categoric answer as to whether the document would be published within the next six months, it would not say.

Care provider and campaigner Mike Padgham said: “If the green paper is a priority, why has it been delayed for so long?

“There are no excuses. If it is a lack of parliamentary time then get the MPs to work late, do overtime, work on Friday or work into parliamentary recesses, as the rest of us do when we deal with priorities. If they are serious about properly tackling social care they would make time.”

Jayne Connery, director of Care Campaign for the Vulnerable, said: “It is no surprise this Government has no end date identified for the production of the green paper.

“This is simply not a priority for ministers. Resolving the social care crisis is not a vote winner and therefore to be ignored until the looming social care disaster has reached critical levels.”

Jeremy Hughes, chief executive at Alzheimer’s Society, said: “The human cost of the endless delays to the green paper is appalling. The longer we wait for a funding plan for social care, the more people with dementia are left to struggle at the mercy of a broken system.”

The Local Government Association said since 2010 councils have had to bridge a £6billion funding shortfall just to keep the adult social care system going. It estimates adult social care services face a £3.5billion funding gap by 2025, just to maintain existing standards.

Campaigners want the green paper to include proposals like mandatory CCTV safety monitoring in all communal areas of care homes to stamp down on abuse.

Alzheimer’s Society wants to see the creation of a special NHS Dementia Fund to prevent families facing financial ruin as they struggle to shoulder care costs.

A Government spokesman said: “We will set out our plans to reform the social care system at the earliest opportunity to ensure it is sustainable for the future.”

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The life of Norman Phillips changed forever in 2008, when he was forced into early retirement to care for his wife Rosamund, who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.

For years he juggled his work as a senior manager for Fujitsu with caring for Rosamund, now 69, but it soon became too much.

At one stage he was losing half his income to care costs and he had to sell the family home to pay off debts of £40,000.

And last year his mother Noreen, 89, was diagnosed with dementia leaving Norman, 67, of Stevenage, Herts, as a full-time carer to both.

The father-of-two said: “I feel like a paratrooper at Arnhem. I am desperately trying to hold the bridge until help arrives, but it never does. I came close to a breakdown a couple of weeks ago because it was all too much.The pressure is enormous.”

He added: “There are around 6.3 million unpaid carers like me in the UK struggling to cope. We need the Government to publish its social care green paper because things need to change, we all need help.

“But the Government knows that carers are not just going to walk away and they play on that. I am sure they do.

“What we all want is some security because we are at crisis point.”

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Comment by Jeremy Hughes

We urge the Department of Health and Social Care to push dementia care as its foremost priority with the new Prime Minister, to drive forward desperately needed reforms.

One million people will have dementia by 2021 – the Government can’t continue to ignore this crisis.

People with dementia have a right to care, but the hefty price tag it comes with means many are denied that right.

Social care system failings are draining an estimated avoidable £570million a year from the NHS.

Our Fix Dementia Care campaign hears about people needlessly ending up in A&E with dehydration, infections, or as the result of a fall.

And many are having to wait up to a year in hospital for a care home place.

The NHS Long-Term Plan will fail if social care isn’t fixed.

The ever-elusive social care green paper has now been delayed for more than two years.

But while a longer-term sustainable solution is found, we can’t afford to wait.

The extra costs for specialist dementia care should be met by a £2.4billion Dementia Fund. The new Prime Minister must act urgently to end the dementia care crisis.

• Jeremy Hughes is Alzheimer’s Society chief executive

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