Better NHS-social care links ‘critical’, MPs say

A call for urgent action to improve the links between local authority social care and NHS services is among the forthright recommendations of a damning verdict on coalition government plans.

In a report published on the same day as the local government spending settlements, the Commons health committee warns that the spending review will require efficiency gains ‘on an unprecedented scale’ if the cuts, coupled with NHS reforms, are not to damage social care.

In unusually blunt language, the committee says it does not agree with the government’s claim that the spending review will leave local authorities with enough resources for social care. “Councils will need to sustain further efficiency savings of up to 3.5% per annum to avoid reducing their levels of care, and this will not be easy.”

One source of efficiencies would be “an improved interface” between health and social care. However the report says that, despite good efforts by some authorities, this is not happening on the ground.

Central government is to blame, the committee says: “There is an urgent need for a credible plan to deliver the efficiency gain which is the central requirement of the Spending Review settlement… Many witnesses have drawn attention to the need for this plan and have expressed concern that it is not yet available. We share this concern.”

link: www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201011/cmselect/512/51209.htm