Social care - will it ever get better?

So here we go again. One party accuses the other of locking them out of talks; while the other party accuses the first of walking away altogether.

It's what appeared to happen before the last election and it's happening all over again now. Meanwhile social care is in crisis.

Next week the Government will support the principle that a cap on the amount someone pays for care costs should be put in place in England. It was an idea put forward by economist Andrew Dilnot last year.

The government's move has been widely welcomed but as with all these things there's a catch. A cap will not only cost the individual but also the Treasury. The Department of Health admits there's no money to pay for it. Ways to fund social care won't be discussed for another couple of years - at the next Spending Review. And so it will be some time before anything suitable is put in place.

Which means we're back where we started. Elderly people are still having to sell homes to pay for care. Many others are missing out on adequate care altogether because local authorities say they're strapped for cash.

While the politicians continue to argue over who's walked away from what, the crisis deepens. A funding solution is needed urgently. But it seems no government really wants to be the one to put it in place.