This final episode of the "State of Our Nation" podcast features a heartfelt conversation between co-hosts Kari Gerstheimer and Anna Severwright as they reflect on the series, and discuss the current challenging state of social care.

They double down on the onslaught of recent policy and financial decisions that seem to be negatively impacting people who rely on social care; discuss reactions to the newly launched Casey Commission and look forward to series 3.

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This episode of the State of our Nation shines a light on the critical issue of health and social care inequalities faced by Black and other minority ethnic groups in the UK. Our guest this time is Charles Kwaku-Odoi, CEO of the Caribbean & African Health Network (CAHN) who shares his experience to highlight the key issues. Namely, a lack of trust in healthcare systems, negative experiences with services, language barriers, and a lack of cultural and religious sensitivity in delivery that makes individuals feel that the services offered are not for them.

Kari, Anna and Charles discuss how the COVID-19 pandemic amplified these existing disparities and Anna draws a parallel between the lack of trust experienced by the Black and minority ethnic communities discussed by Charles, and the lack of trust that many disabled people have in the social care sector due to their own past negative experiences.

Charles describes all the ways CAHN is working to address these inequalities through community-led initiatives including the involvement of trusted community figures and healthcare professionals and other culturally relevant approaches to building trust. In combination these methods are all increase and improve access to equitable care.

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Join Kari and Anna as they welcome Svetlana Kotova from Inclusion London to discuss the complexities of charging for social care. Svetlana Kotova. Director of Campaigns and Justice is a lifelong advocate for disability rights, and shares her journey from her early years in Russia to her impactful work in the UK. When she first arrived in the West she was surprised to discover that disability rights had not been "solved" and became involved with the ongoing struggle for equality in the UK. She initially focused on legal cases to support disabled people using the Equality Act to challenge discrimination and social care decisions and has now shifted her focus to broader legal and policy work. In this episode she shares Inclusion London's campaign to highlight the impact of social care charges with the significant increase in the cost of living.

Find out more about Inclusion London here

Read about the Charging campaign here.

Find out more about what the law says about charging by going to AccessAva on the Access Social Care website.

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