Full social care reform plans to be announced later this year, Matt Hancock pledges

Speaking in the Commons today, the Health Secretary outlined proposals to bring the health service and other partners closer together.

A White Paper, to be published later today, brings together the NHS, social care and local government to make decisions with the aim of providing integrated care.

The proposals see a tendering rule scrapped, which officials say has created unnecessary competition and made it difficult for councils and different parts of the NHS to set up joint teams and pool their budgets.

Under the changes, councils and NHS services will be able to set up bodies that can make decisions about how to join up their services.

The shake-up will see the law changed to reverse reforms of the NHS in England introduced by former health secretary Andrew Lansley in 2012.

Mr Hancock said: “The practical implication is that these changes will allow the NHS to work more closely together with the different parts of the NHS and, crucially, with social care and public health colleagues.”

But he also said the sector could expect promised radical changes to social care later this year.

He said today’s announcement was “by no means the full extent" of his ambition.

He said: “As we continue to tackle this pandemic, we will also bring forward changes in social care, public health and mental health services. We're committed to the reform of adult social care, and we will bring forward proposals this year.”

Boris Johnson said in his first speech as Prime Minister that: “My job is to protect you or your parents or grandparents from the fear of having to sell your home to pay for the costs of care.

“And so I am announcing now – on the steps of Downing Street – that we will fix the crisis in social care once and for all, and with a clear plan we have prepared to give every older person the dignity and security they deserve.”

But no plan has yet been forthcoming, to the great disappointment of the social care sector.

Mr Hancock said “there is no better time than now” to carry out social care reform”.

Answering critics who have asked “why now”, Mr Hancock told the Commons: “The response to Covid-19 has, in my view, accelerated the pace of collaboration across health and social care, showing what we can do when we work together flexibly, adopting new technology focused on the needs of the patient and setting aside bureaucratic rules.”

The Health Secretary told MPs: “The pandemic has made the changes in this White Paper more not less urgent, and it is our role in Parliament to make the legislative changes that are needed.

“There is no better time than now.”