THE social care system is in deep crisis and this will continue to worsen unless the Government acts now.

We need the people of Oxford to help to get this message to the country’s decision makers.

On Tuesday, March 6, hundreds of older and disabled people and their families will travel to London for a mass lobby of Parliament, and we are urging people from Oxfordshire to join them and help their MP understand the need for urgent reform of the social care system.

People are living longer with illness and disability and the chronically underfunded system is in crisis. Yet social care budgets across England fell by £1bn last year, according to the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services.

This is the opportunity of a generation for government to improve the lives of millions of people and help ease the strain on the already financially stretched NHS.

Social care is not a “nice to have” extra – it is about giving people the support they need to live with dignity.

Without this support, many people are condemned to a mere existence.

Please see the website careandsupportalliance.org for more information and to register.

PAUL JENKINS, chief executive, Rethink Mental Illness and representatives of 23 other organisations