I recently spent a morning shadowing Amanda, a home care assistant who provides support for older and disabled people in Leicester, such as help getting up, washed, dressed and fed.

From 7am to 11am, Amanda visited five people in my constituency.

Some needed help after being in hospital, others had a long-term health condition, such as Parkinson's disease.

Amanda works incredibly hard and the care that she provides is a lifeline for older and disabled people and their families.

Without her support, many people would not be able to stay living at home.

Amanda loves her job. But she is concerned that care assistants do not get paid for travel times between the people they see, so some of them are not making the minimum wage at the end of the week and are deciding to quit.

Government cuts to council budgets mean times for visits are being squeezed, threatening the quality of care, too.

In my national role, as Labour's shadow minister for care and older people, I also get to meet frontline staff in other parts of the country.

This week, I shadowed matrons in North Tees University Hospital, in Stockton.

They told me one of their priorities was improving understanding of dementia, through better staff training and having a dementia "champion" on every ward.

They are also working closely with community services, such as district nurses and physiotherapists, to make sure older people can get back home as soon as possible.

Being able to spend time with people such as Amanda and the hospital nurses in Stockton is really important.

It means I can hear directly from staff, patients and their families about what is happening on the ground and helps me think about how care for older people should be improved in future.

We need to end the false divide between hospital care and community services, such as home help and district nursing, so they work together in the best interests of patients.

The focus of all these services needs to shift more towards prevention, so fewer people end up in hospital or get stuck in hospital because the right care is not available in the community or at home.

Improving out-of-hours services, particularly at night, is crucial and, where the current system often falls down, so people end up dialling 999 because they do not know where else to turn.

Family carers need more support, including better information about services and more respite breaks.

Residential and nursing homes must also have enough properly trained staff to provide the best care for frail elderly residents, so they do not have to go into hospital unnecessarily.

Making these changes will be difficult, especially when money is tight. But neglecting or cutting community services is a false economy.

Delayed discharges from hospital are already costing taxpayers more than £500,000 a day, because the right care is not available in the community or at home.

Our ageing population means doing nothing is not an option. The time to act is now.