Elderly care fund '˜is just a ruse' say MPs

A FUND set up by the Government to help meet the growing demand for elderly care has been branded a 'ruse'.
The Public Accounts Committee has criticised the Government's approach to elderly careThe Public Accounts Committee has criticised the Government's approach to elderly care
The Public Accounts Committee has criticised the Government's approach to elderly care

The Public Accounts Committee insisted better integration between social care and the NHS was the only way to improve the service to patients and get value for money for the taxpayer.

In a statement, the committee said: “Two years ago, we expressed serious doubt that the government’s latest integration initiative, the Better Care Fund, would save money, reduce emergency admissions to hospitals and reduce the number of days people remain stuck in hospital unnecessarily.

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“Since then the Fund has failed to achieve any of these objectives and our witnesses displayed an appallingly casual attitude to the targets that had been set for reducing emergency admissions and delayed transfers of care, both of which have actually increased. In practice, the Fund was little more than a complicated ruse to transfer money from health to local government to paper over the funding pressures on adult social care.”

Chancellor Philip Hammond put an extra £2bn into the fund following complaints from Conservative councils over social care pressures.

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