Burnham grandmother had ring stolen

Grandmother Catherine Murray was forced to sell her home to pay for care in her final years, and yet the care she received "wasn't great", he recalled.

One of Mr Burnham's first actions after being appointed to the Department of Health last month was to put forward proposals to end the "cruel lottery" of care for the elderly in England, which currently sees some older people forced to sell their homes and use up their life savings while others pay nothing.

He is trying to build public support for one of three options for change, including a "partnership" scheme under which the state would pay up to a third of the cost of social care; a voluntary insurance scheme; or a compulsory payment of around £20,000 to cover whatever care is needed at the end of life.

Around 20% of English people need care costing £1,000 or less during retirement, but 50% need more than £25,000 and 20% more than £50,000, while a few can run up bills of £200,000 or more if they spend years in a home with a condition such as Alzheimer's.

Mr Burnham told the Sunday Mirror: "This is a very difficult issue, but I'm determined to grasp the nettle. The idea is to create a National Care Service - an idea with very deliberate echoes of the creation of the National Health Service.

"Some people can face over £200,000 in social care costs. That is a cruel lottery."

Remembering his grandmother's time in a residential care home in Lancashire, Mr Burnham said: "Some of the care my gran received wasn't great. She had stuff nicked all the time. The worst of it was she had her wedding ring taken off her finger. It had been pulled past her knuckle. My mum came in one day and the ring just wasn't there. It was really devastating for all of us."

Mr Burnham stressed that he was not blaming the staff at the home, the "overwhelming majority" of whom did a "magnificent" job.

"We all need to give recognition to care staff, many of whom just get the minimum wage for doing some of the hardest jobs," he said.