19 October 2007
Council and social care leaders are warning that the government must use its forthcoming green paper on adult services funding to fundamentally rethink the system.
The National Children and Adult Services conference, hosted by the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services and the Local Government Association, opened in Bournemouth on October 17.
In a speech on October 19, ADASS president Anne Williams told delegates that without a major overhaul local authorities would be forced to restrict access to services.
This in turn would prevent investment in the kind of services that are more cost effective. 'More and more councils are having to manage demand by tightening eligibility criteria, thereby losing opportunities for early intervention, “reablement” and prevention of the need for long-term care. This is the opposite of what we would want and need to do to manage demand in the longer term.'
Williams also urged the government to develop service-commissioning expertise among primary care trusts and local authorities, as it would be crucial to ensuring that there was sufficient capacity to meet demand in the future.
'We have all made a start on this but there is still a way to go,' she said. 'As practice-based commissioning develops, It is vital that commissioners recognise the integral importance of social care and wider council services in enabling people to stay healthy and independent.'
Meanwhile, in the opening speech of the conference, Local Government Association chair Sir Simon Milton vowed to lobby ministers during the green paper consultation for a 'fair and affordable' funding regime.
He said last week's Comprehensive Spending Review settlement for adult social care, which saw the sector receive just £190m extra in total between 2008 and 2011, was 'deeply disappointing'.
Milton added: 'As things stand, in children's and adult services we will have to use all our ingenuity to make the progress that is being demanded of us.'
PFoct2007
