New UK leader Burnham vows to fix a 'broken' social care system

LONDON -- British Prime Minister Andy Burnham pledged Wednesday that he will succeed where decades of predecessors have failed and fix a “broken” social care system built on an overstretched public sector and profit-making private firms.Burnham, 56, said it was a “major dereliction of duty” that his generation of politicians had failed to provide decent care in a way that is affordable for both individuals and the state.“I think social care in England is as unfair as American healthcare,” Burnham said. “The vulnerable pay with everything.”The Labour Party leader said he would try to work with other political parties to create a “national care service” to sit alongside the taxpayer-funded National Health Service established after World War II to give free healthcare to all.Burnham, who became prime minister last week, says it’s his priority to tackle the patchy access to social care for those who need it because of age, illness or disability. It’s a pressing issue in a country with an aging population and a frayed public health system, and one that has haunted previous Labour and Conservative governments.“You’ve probably got a feeling of déjà vu,” Burnham told the audience in a spee...