The government plans to cap individual social care costs as soon as it can to ensure there is a ‘sustainable‘ plan for care funding in place, Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt revealed today.
Speaking to the Conservative Party conference, Hunt said his top priority would be to ‘transform’ how the NHS deals with older people to meet the ‘challenge of an ageing population’. Failure to do this would lead to a health care system that would ‘not be sustainable for them or indeed for any of us’, he added.‘I want to be the health secretary who helped transform the culture of the system – to make it the best in the world at looking after older people,’ said Hunt, who was moved to the health job in Prime Minister David Cameron’s government reshuffle last month.
He said that the government’s draft Care and Support Bill, which will introduce a national threshold for basic care for all local authorities, would mean no one would be forced to sell their house in their lifetime to pay for care. This is ‘a historic change’, he stated. ‘But we also want to go further and implement the Dilnot cap on social care costs as soon as we are able.’
When the Bill was launched in July, then health secretary Andrew Lansley said a decision could not be made on care funding ahead of the next Spending Review.
The Dilnot Commission on social care funding, which reported last year, called for the introduction of a personal contribution cap of £35,000 on care costs, with any further costs met by government. Hunt added: ‘We need to face up to some hard truths about how we are going to pay for social care.’
He also used his conference speech to highlight examples of failure in the care of older people in both the NHS and care system, and warned hospital managers that they could be sacked if they ‘lose control’ of the quality of care in their hospitals.
The ‘shocking failures’ at Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust, which is currently subject to an inquiry into its care, and the Winterbourne View care home highlighted problems that could not ‘be swept under the carpet’, he said.
Hunt told delegates he had asked both the Department of Health and the Care Quality Commission to determine how managers could be ‘held accountable for the care they provide’, both in the NHS and social care sectors.
From next year, all hospitals will be assessed based on the number of patients who would recommend the care they received to friends or family.
‘We have many committed managers in hospitals and care homes,’ he said. ‘But I need to say this to all managers: you will be held responsible for the care in your establishments. You wouldn't expect to keep your job if you lost control of your finances. Well, don't expect to keep it if you lose control of your care.’
Hunt also backed the government’s controversial NHS reforms to abolish primary care trusts and introduce more competition into the health service. He said the plans, which were introduced by Lansley, were ‘brave, right and will make our NHS stronger’.
Responding to the speech, Mike Farrar, chief executive of the NHS Confederation,saidthe sector would be ‘delighted that the health secretary is putting such a huge focus on the care of older people in order to address the needs of an older population’.
He said NHS managers had ‘no problem at all with being held accountable for the care they provide’ but would want to be sure that any changes ‘truly add benefit compared with the costs they impose’.
He added: ‘They must not represent a heavy-handed and disproportionate response that takes time and money away from patient care for little benefit.’
