A SOCIAL care leader has called for urgent action to deal with the “triple whammy” battering care homes and domiciliary care companies in west Wales.

Mario Kreft MBE, the chair of Care Forum Wales, called on the Welsh Government to act after new figures revealed a steep rise in the number of people aged 85 or over to more than 184,000 .

According to Public Health Wales, the Hywel Dda University Health Board area figure will reach 27,000 by 2036 which represents a 148 per cent increase since 2011.

At the same time, says Mr Kreft, the sector is also being hit by chronic underfunding and the prospect of having to give staff a 30 per cent pay increase without knowing where the money is coming from.

The introduction of the living wage would also have a knock on effect for across the board because remuneration at every level would have to be increased accordingly to maintain pay differentials.

In Wales social care looks after 150,000 people and employs 75,000 staff which is over five per cent of the Welsh workforce.

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