29 July 2005
The Department of Health has abandoned plans to publish a white paper on adult social care, opting instead to incorporate it into broader proposals on integrated health and social care services outside hospitals.
A spokeswoman for the DoH said the move was in response to comments received by the department during its consultation on the adult social care services green paper Independence, wellbeing and choice, which closed this week.
Respondents such as the English Community Care Association were critical of the paper, saying that it denied elderly people genuine choices, as it appeared to be 'prejudicial' against care homes.
The charity coalition the Social Policy on Ageing Information Network, meanwhile, raised serious concerns over the lack of funds for services for elderly people.
Care services minister Liam Byrne said the decision to have a single white paper would 'help put individuals and their families at the centre of care'.
But, in a report to the health select committee published last week, Byrne made it clear that service integration would not mean an end to the controversial divide between health and social care, which forces recipients of services deemed 'social care' to pay for them.
Responding to the committee's calls to end the distinction, Byrne wrote: 'To dismantle this would be a fundamental and costly change to the structure of the welfare state.'
Byrne confirmed that fees would stay for social care recipients, but pledged to speed up work on developing a national set of eligibility criteria for continuing care fees to avoid the risk of a 'postcode lottery'.
PFjul2005
