Reforms to the system of adult social care to be unveiled today by the government represent the ‘best opportunity in a generation’ to improve care for the elderly, the Local Government Association has said.
However, the group representing councils in England has warned that any changes proposed without details on how they will be paid for will ‘not go far enough’ to address the immediate funding crisis.The Department of Health will outline its planned reforms in a draft Care and Support Bill to be presented to Parliament later.
However, it is expected this will not set out how the costs will be met. Instead, the draft legislation will be accompanied by a ‘progress report’ on funding reform. This comes more than a year after the report of the Commission on Funding of Care and Support, chaired by Andrew Dilnot.
LGA chair Sir Merrick Cockell said today that ‘attempts to improve the quality of care are meaningless if there is no money for councils to provide these services’.
He urged the government to set out a ‘concrete timescale’ for changes, alongside ‘a clear indication’ of where funding will come from.
Whitehall must also commit to tackling the current crisis in social care. Adult social care already takes up more than 40% of council budgets, to provide services for around 2% of the population.
This led the LGA to warn last month that unless social care was reformed, councils would face a £16.5bn funding gap by 2020.
Cockell said: ‘The money is there, government just needs to be smarter about using it. The NHS last year made a surplus £1.6bn in its budget, money that could be better spent now on providing preventative services to help elderly and disabled people live independently at home for longer.
‘While the White Paper may offer some of what local government has long been agreed on, the reality is that under the current system there won’t be enough money to provide these services to anyone other than the most needy, or those who can afford to pay for all of their own care. This could mean some of the most vulnerable people in society facing further price increases or cuts to services they rely on.’
Also ahead of the publication of the bill, the NHS Confederation warned that a social care funding squeeze was hitting NHS services.
The confederation has published the findings of a survey that found 66% of health service managers said funding shortfalls in social care have hit service provision in the last year.
Almost all –92% – of the managers polled said that some discharges from hospital have had to be delayed due to a lack of alternative accommodation.
More than half – 57% – also said there had been an increase in the number of acute admissions to hospital of elderly people, and 55% confirmed there had been more attendances at accident and emergency.
Confederation chief executive Mike Farrar urged the government to focus on ‘integration, personalisation and prevention’ of care to close ‘gaps’ in the current system.
‘We can no longer afford the political debates and academic discussions about social care funding. This is a real issue that is having a detrimental impact on people's lives, now, today. This is the time for action.’
