Not many ministers or MPs worked as home helps before sitting in Parliament.
I’m proud of the work that I did caring for our elders and giving them dignity. It made me who I am.
The struggles faced by our social care sector heroes have become headline news in recent weeks.
But social care was a struggle long before coronavirus hit for my old workmates in Stockport and hundreds of thousands of others.
Being a home help is hard, back-breaking graft with long hours and poor wages. Many aren’t even paid for travel time between home visits.
Home helps and care assistants are rightly being praised as heroes now, but the truth is that they always have been.
So when I see how they have been so badly let down I feel angry on their behalf. Over a month ago Matt Hancock promised that all social care staff and residents would be able to get tested for coronavirus immediately.
They are still waiting, just like they have waited for protective equipment.
Without testing how can we be sure people being discharged from hospital are not taking coronavirus straight into care homes to cause more devastation?
This week Keir Starmer showed up the Government’s failures when it comes to keeping people in our care homes safe. Official advice published in February said it was “very unlikely” that those in care homes would get infected.
But in April there were 18,000 more deaths in homes than the year before, with at least 8,000 put down to coronavirus.
The crisis has shone a light on all corners of our society and what it has revealed is not pretty.
Not only have the social care staff we all applaud on a Thursday night not been provided with the PPE they need, but half are not even paid the National Living Wage.
So when we get through this crisis let’s build a better society.
And let’s start by valuing care workers, like my old Stockport mates, and paying them properly.
