Does society here in Hampshire truly not value those who carry out vital care work?

That is the claim made by at least one professional as the region struggles to cope with elderly patients trapped in hospital beds due to the lack of carers in the community to look after them.

The bed blocking, as the situation has come to be known, has a severe knock-on effect for the rest of our hospitals, as this paper reports today.

Hard pressed A&E is just one area that finds it difficult to cope when patients cannot be moved on to the wards.

The solution is to find more aid carers in the community.

Yet these are hard to come by in some areas of Winchester where care is considered only suitable to be paid for on the cheap, it seems.

Should we then be prepared to pay more for those who care for us in old age and sickness to ensure a higher rate of take-up in those sectors?

The answer would seem to be yes.