NHS Confederation comments on social care funding reports

Published on Thursday, 16 August 2012 11:13

Posted by Scott Buckler

Jo Webber said a long-term sustainable solution for social care is necessary. She said the reported proposals for additional funding to come from the NHS would need to be considered in further detail

Commenting on reports this morning that the Government plans to broadly implement the recommendations of the Dilnot Commission, Jo Webber, NHS Confederation deputy policy director, said:

"We are extremely encouraged by reports that the Government is taking action to tackle the issue of social care funding.

"Our current model of social care is broken and we desperately need a long-term, sustainable resolution if we are to avoid further detrimental impact on local government and NHS services. As part of this we need firm, affordable and coherent decisions about funding.

"The Government's white paper seeks to address the problems facing social care, but it only goes so far. We also have to tackle the funding issue and radically change the way in which health and social care are integrated. After all, people do not and should not have to understand and negotiate the boundaries between the two systems when they are in need of support.

"However, if the Government develops proposals to use the NHS budget to help implement the Dilnot recommendations we will need to closely examine these plans. The health service is already facing an immense financial challenge to save £20bn over the coming years and adding additional savings to fund social care could exacerbate the pressures already on it. We cannot solve this issue by robbing Peter to pay Paul. We look forward to seeing details of the Government's proposals in due course.

"The country cannot afford to pick up the pieces of a broken social care system. We need to address this issue now or risk paying the price further down the line."

Source: ©NHS Confederation