Don’t rob Peter to pay Paul say NHS leaders

A new report by the NHS Confederation says that while use of NHS funds to plug the shortfall now is a “necessary sticking plaster”, continued dipping into healthcare coffers would have a severe impact on patients.

The confederation, which represents all organisations that commission and provide NHS services, urged the Treasury to find funds for the “practical and credible” proposals of the Dilnot Commission, which outlined a blueprint for reform last year.

Under the commission’s proposals, the amount individuals would have to pay for social care before the state stepped in would be capped at £35,000.

However the recommendations would cost up to £2bn a year to implement.

With the health service already striving to find “unprecedented” savings of up to £5bn a year, the confederation said the health service could not foot the bill for this, and that the Treasury should find funds for it.

Jo Webber, the confederation’s deputy director of policy, said: “We support the short-term transfer of NHS funds to support local social care shortfalls in funding.

“But the health service cannot keep on picking up the pieces of a broken social care system.

“If it continues to do so it will buckle under the pressure. A policy of robbing Peter to pay Paul would be very short sighted.

“We need to address this issue now and transform models of care, or risk paying the price further down the line.”

Numbers of people requiring social care are expected to shoot up in coming years, with the population over 65 due to rise by 50 per cent over the next two decades.

The amount of people with dementia is set to more than double by the middle of the 21st century, while the number of those who lived past the age of 90 rose by 21 per cent in the decade from 2001 to 2011.

The confederation’s report received the backing of the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS), which agreed that an “already serious situation is bound to deteriorate over the coming years”.

But ADASS also said some transfer of NHS funds to social care could be justified if there was a “clear payback” for the health service.

ADASS president Sarah Pickup said: “We recognise that the NHS has substantial savings of its own to make to help meet the costs of rising demand and new treatments.

“But we firmly believe that increasing the spend on preventative, community-based services will reduce high end costs for both health and social care.”

Michelle Mitchell, charity director general at Age UK, said: “The social care system has been under-funded for years, failing to keep pace with the rising demand of an ageing population.

“The Government needs to show vision and courage and put in place the fair and sustainable funding that’s required to ensure older people both now and in the future get the care they desperately need.”

Coun David Rogers, chairman of the Local Government Association’s Community Wellbeing Board, said: “As resources become increasingly stretched, closer and more effective working between councils and the NHS will be an essential part of how we look after our ageing population.”

A Department of Health spokeswoman said: “We are already providing £7.2bn over four years so that local authorities have sufficient funds to protect people’s access to care and support.

“We’re also investing a great deal more money in specialised housing, £300m to support better joint working between health and care, and tens of millions on improving information for people.”