Social care plan criticised
pharmafile | July 13, 2012 | News story | Sales and Marketing | Kings Fund, NHS, king's fund, reform, social care
A leading health think-tank has criticised what it calls the ‘financial vacuum’ at the heart of the government’s plans for social care.
The White Paper on Care and Support, launched this week, has been billed by the coalition as the ‘most radical reform of the social care system in 64 years’.
But Richard Humphries of the King’s Fund said: “The government has failed to produce a clear plan for how care should be funded or a timetable for how these decisions will be considered.”
Last year’s Dilnot Commission recommended sharing the cost of care in old age between individuals and the state, with people paying for their care until a cap of £35,000 is reached, after which the state pays – but the government has not committed itself to any figures.
“We agree that the principles of the Dilnot recommendations – financial protection through capped costs and an extended means-test – would be the right basis for any new funding model,” explained health secretary Andrew Lansley.
But he said this would only be ‘if a way to pay for it can be found’ and that there would be no decision on the specifics until the next government spending review anyway.
The King’s Fund is unimpressed by this – not least because that now makes it unlikely that any action on care funding will be taken before the next general election.
“There is a financial vacuum at the heart of these proposals which undermines the bold and ambitious vision for a reformed system set out in the White Paper,” Humphries said.
He foresees a spiral in which there will be widening gap between the care people need and what is available, increased pressure on local authorities which are already seeing budget cuts, leading to the likelihood of poor quality care.
The Department of Health has emphasised the decision at the last spending review to provide £7.2 billion over four years to ensure care service levels can be maintained.
But the government has not acknowledged the pressures on the current system, suggesting instead that authorities have sufficient funding to meet current needs, Humphries insisted.
“This flies in the face of evidence that care spending is falling while the numbers of people needing care is rocketing,” he said.
In line with most thinking in health and social care policy over at least the past decade, the draft Care and Support Bill talks of moving away from reacting to crises and instead focusing on prevention.
The government has pledged this week to transfer £300 million from the NHS to social care to support change in local services and promote better integrated care.
But Humphries dismisses this, saying it will help only in the short term. “Robbing Peter to pay Paul is not a sustainable long-term solution at a time when the NHS is facing the severest financial challenge in its history,” he added.
Lansley highlighted some of the changes that were being introduced, including the commitment that no-one will be forced to sell their home to pay for care in their lifetime.
Other key elements are the enshrining of carers’ rights in law, a new code of conduct and training standards for professional carers and the creation of a consistent national threshold for basic care.
Adam Hill
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