Committee recommends cohesion between health and social care services to cut costs
Summary
As health and social care services require significant improvement, interaction between both sectors is encouraged in an increasingly challenging fiscal climate.
In ‘Public Expenditure’ (HC 512), the Health Committee finds that settlements planned in the October Spending Review will create a highly challenging context for the delivery of health and social care services over the next four years.
In order to withstand the quality of care levels in both cases, efficiency gains will need to be made on an extraordinary scale.
The Committee does not agree with the Government's premise that the Spending Review settlement and the two year pay freeze will provide councils with the necessary resources to sustain current eligibility levels 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. In this context, the Government is placing understandable emphasis on the 'extra' funding for social care, provided through the Personal Social Services (PSS) grant and the National Health Service (NHS).
However there is concern that the increases in the PSS grant will not be reflected in changes in actual spending on social care. It is also vital that the savings required by the health settlement are made by efficiency gains rather than making cuts.
Improving the interaction between health and social care will be critical if the necessary cost savings on both sides are to be realised. It is not enough for the Government to exhort change in this area: there must be a formal policy infrastructure that recognises the importance of achieving a better overall interface between the two sectors.
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