Norman Lamb warns social care on verge of drifting into ‘state of crisis’

By The Press Association6th January 2016News EnglandBusiness / Funding / Finance, Finance, Government / Politics, Local Authorities, News England, Social Care

England must decide how much it spends on NHS and social care services to prevent “a state of crisis”, a former health minister has insisted.

Liberal Democrat Norman Lamb warned some experts believe there will be a £30 billion “gap” in NHS funding by 2020 despite the Government already committing extra cash.

Social care is also viewed as a system “living on borrowed time”, Mr Lamb added.

He wants an independent commission to review the future of the NHS and social care, noting its survival “cannot be taken for granted”.

The commission would take evidence from the public, health staff and other interested parties with the aim of proposing a new funding settlement.

Speaking in the Commons, Mr Lamb told MPs: “The Government faces a choice. The reality is the system will either drift into a state of crisis or we confront the existential challenge now.

“This transcends narrow party politics. We have to decide as a country how much we want to spend on our NHS and care system.”

Earlier, Mr Lamb said demand on health services has increased by about 4% every year since 1945.

He explained: “As we look to the period up to 2020, the widely accepted assessment is that there will be a gap of £30 billion in the NHS by that date.

“The Government has committed to finding £10 billion, including the increase in this financial year.

“But few experts in the NHS believe this will be enough. The Health Foundation has estimated a gap of £2 billion in 2020 on top of the £10 billion commitment and many others believe the gap will be much larger.”

Mr Lamb warned further cuts to social care are “inevitable” and would have an impact on the NHS.

He said: “Simon Stevens, the head of NHS England, has made clear that if you cut social care it will have an impact on the NHS and that this in effect creates a larger funding gap in the NHS by 2020 than the projected £30 billion.

“So the situation based on planned spending in this Parliament looks unsustainable and beyond 2020 just keeps getting more challenging.”

The North Norfolk MP said more people face losing their funding for social care or support packages becoming “more inadequate”.

He explained: “We are currently witnessing reductions in care packages in my own county of Norfolk and I suspect that is widespread.

“There are also serious concerns of significant numbers of providers of social care leaving the market. There’s a sense of the system living on borrowed time.

“The unattractive effect of all this will be that those with money will be able to get good care. Those relying on the state will increasingly get nothing at all or sub-standard care.

“I don’t think any of us can tolerate that.”

Mr Lamb asked for his National Health Service and Social Care (Commission) Bill, which has cross-party support, to be given a second reading on March 11.

It is unlikely to become law without Government support and due to a lack of parliamentary time.

In a statement, a Department of Health spokesman said: “We know the NHS is facing challenges as our population ages, but we are absolutely committed to its future and are investing £10 billion more to fund the service’s vision for the next five years.

“Since 2010 we have employed 10,100 extra doctors and 8,500 extra nurses and by 2020 the NHS will be a truly seven-day service offering the same world-class care every day of the week.”