Pooled budgets ‘essential to’ social care solution

The government’s just-created Commission on the Funding of Care and Support must recognise the importance of pooled local budgets, an influential health thinktank has said.

Chris Ham, chief executive of the King’s Fund said that the panel, unveiled yesterday by health secretary Andrew Lansley, would have to build public support for change.

Prof Ham said that more than one decade after the commission on reforming social care set up by the previous government, commissioners Andrew Dilnot, Lord Warner and Jo Williams would “need no reminding of the scale of the challenge ahead”.

‘The commission’s first task will be to feed into the spending review,” he said.

“In doing so, we hope it will stress the need to break down barriers between health and social care and pool budgets at a local level.

“With the NHS facing the most significant financial challenge in its history and substantial cuts to social care budgets likely to follow, stronger integration between health and social care services is not just desirable, it is essential.”

Some media organisations have focused on the potential for the commission to recommend funding solutions that could be described as a “death tax”, reigniting tensions that arose in the runup to May’s General Election.

Then, Mr Lansley, as shadow health secretary, refused to agree to a cross-party stance on social care funding if such a solution remained on the table.

Yesterday, former health secretary Andy Burnham reportedly demanded to know what had happened to change Mr Lansley’s thinking.