Waking up on the wrong side of the bed: the injustice of the social care system

Social care in the UK is in need of our attention. Nearly two-thirds (65%) of councils in England and Wales are still commissioning 15-minute care visits. So we’ve been at it again, addressing injustice with one big satirical slap round the face. This morning our 15 Minute Care Makeover film with Unison went live aimed at shoving social care support and the alarmingly brief 15 minute time frame many care workers are faced with into the limelight.Our creative lead on the project, Ali explains how the team arrived at the idea: “Drawing a link between the 15 minutes some care workers have to help our most vulnerable people and a 15 minute makeover show seemed like a darkly funny but powerful choice.”The film conveys the humiliation of Frank, an elderly gentleman, as he is hurried through his daily rituals, from bed to bath (where he is forced to enjoy his cereal on the bog) and back to bed again where nurse Nisha’s 15 minutes is up and he is left with one sock off and one sock on looking completely confused and ready to go back to bed.Frank is of course symbolic of the thousands of elderly people’s experience of social care in the UK. And he is obviously not the only character suffering from this unacceptable level of support. Nisha plays Frank’s carer and represents the large proportion of social workers in the UK who have just 15 minutes to care for society’s most vulnerable people.Think about this for a second, could you even wash, dress and clean yourself, let alone do it for someone who is far less able bodied? Then wash up, hoover and dust (just think how dusty your grandma’s bookshelves are) all inside 15 minutes? To put it into context, imagine the world’s best mum, morphed with superman, then add a constant supply of the drug from the Limitless film. Yep, it’s pretty bleak, but hopefully this gives you an appreciation of the heroes we have working in our care sector.Watch the film here and don’t forget to give it a share so we can really spread this message.Special thanks to our production company Bootleg Films and our cast, including the wonderful Claire Sweeney for helping us bring our idea to life.

Watch this clip from Claire Sweeney's new exploitative makeover show where a care worker has to get a vulnerable person ready for the day in just 15 minutes! #SaveCareNow Sign the petition to demand funding to end 15 minute visits: savecarenow.org.uk/petition