In response to the announcement from the Department of Health and
Social Care that there will be a Commission on Social Care, Sarah
Woolnough, Chief Executive at The King's Fund said:
‘We welcome the announcement of a commission on adult social care
and the appointment of Baroness of Blackstock to lead it.
This could offer a real opportunity to break the cycle of failure
to reform social care.
‘We believe the first phase of the commission should focus on
funding and on measures the government could quickly get on with
implementing, such as work to improve the use of data and
technology in the social care sector, better integration with the
NHS and making adult social care a more attractive career. Work
on many of these issues is already underway but should be sped
up.
‘But we urge the government to accelerate the timing of the
second phase of the commission which focuses on creating a fair
and affordable social care system. The current timetable to
report by 2028 is far too long to wait for people who need social
care, and their families.
‘The most fundamental issue to reforming social care is
addressing the very tight means test which effectively limits
state support to those with the lowest assets and highest needs.
The issues[1] and the
potential solutions[2] to this
are clear and do not require years to consider.'
ENDS
Notes to editors
- Simon Bottery, Senior Fellow at The King's Fund, wrote a blog
about the series of problems facing the social care sector: an
overly-stringent means test; catastrophic costs; unmet need;
patchy care quality; poor workforce pay and conditions; a fragile
provider market; disjointed care; and a ‘postcode lottery' of
access. A ‘Radically Realistic'
Vision For Adult Social Care | The King's Fund
- Simon also explores the means test in his
blog: A new royal commission
on social care must tackle the fundamental problem: the means
test | The King's Fund
