06 April 2007
NHS primary care trusts have hit back at local authorities, claiming that they too are the victims of 'cost-shunting' as social care cuts have increased demand for NHS services.
In a survey of 49 PCTs published on April 4, up to 31% reported increased caseloads as councils stopped caring for adults whose needs were defined as 'moderate' or 'low'.
This tightening of social care eligibility criteria had led to increased pressures on PCT community health services, out-of-hours GP services and admissions to NHS nursing homes, the Primary Care Trust Network claimed.
David Stout, director of the network, said: 'This common move by local authorities to try and tackle local government deficits has meant that many NHS organisations have had to cope with a higher demand for services.'
Last year, the Local Government Association warned that a mixture of government underfunding and NHS cost-shunting meant that two-thirds of councils could provide care services only to the most vulnerable and bedridden, whose needs were defined as 'substantial' or 'critical'.
If present trends continued, no English council would be providing preventative services to lower-need citizens by 2009, the LGA said.
A recent Public Finance survey of 48 local authorities found that five (10%) were considering tightening their eligibility criteria further this year.
The PCT Network report, Partnership working: the facts, says that proposals in the recent health and local government white paper should aid a more collaborative approach to preventative health and social care services, to the benefit of both patients and budgets.
But it admits that in five areas, PCTs and councils had already abandoned new 'section 31' shared funding arrangements.
The report also warns that moves towards unitary status for councils could 'illogically' undermine the recent 'painful' PCT reconfiguration process, which aimed to establish common boundaries between councils and PCTs.
PFapr2007
