MPs said the current inadequate social care system is putting ‘unsustainable pressure’ on unpaid carers who are being forced to provide care worth £184billion a year
Failing to understand the hidden costs of the “broken” social care system could mean any reform is “doomed to fail”, MPs have warned today.
Ministers have been told that the cost of not taking urgent action – and the impact on the NHS, unpaid carers and other services – will far outweigh the price of any potentially expensive solutions to the crisis.
MPs said the current inadequate system is putting “unsustainable pressure” on unpaid carers who are being forced to provide care worth £184billion a year – “equivalent to a second NHS”.
And local authority budgets are “buckling under the pressure” of an increasingly “high price for a failing system”, with costs eating up money that could be spent on other things, such as fixing potholes, keeping libraries open and providing youth services.
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The report concluded that the Government “does not have a robust understanding of the extent of the current system’s failings” or good quality data on the outcomes of delivering high quality care. The MPs said: “Without this, it will be unable to make a clear case for reform.”
It comes just days after the formal launch of the Casey Commission into adult social care. All recommendations “must remain affordable”, the Government has said, “operating within the fiscal constraints of Spending Review settlements for the remainder of this Parliament”.
The health and social care committee has called on the Government to commission research to fully quantify the cost of doing nothing on adult social care reform – including costs to unpaid carers, care workers, councils, care providers, the NHS and the overall economy.
Chair of the committee Layla Moran said: “In our inquiry, we heard that an investment of £6.1billion would provide full economic benefits of £10.7billion – a return on investment of 175%. Unless the Government measures the true cost of inaction and can make a convincing case to the Treasury, the recommended reforms that come out of the Casey Commission will be doomed to fail.”
The Royal College of Nursing’s Nicola Ranger said: “This report should act as an urgent wake-up call for the government that waiting for the conclusion of the current review into adult social care in England is not an option.”
Isabel Lawicka, director of policy and strategy at NHS Providers, said issues around social care “cannot be kicked down the road any longer”. “The cost and consequences of inaction are plain to see,” she said.
“We gave evidence to the committee highlighting the consequences for the NHS including thousands of people every day stuck in hospital beds, fit to be discharged but can’t be.”
Rory Deighton, acute director at the NHS Confederation, said: “The NHS and social care are intricately linked, with delays in social care often leading to patients medically fit enough to go home being stuck in hospital beds.
“This creates bottlenecks, including in the urgent and emergency care pathway which can lead to overcrowded A&Es and delays to ambulances to transfer patients. If the NHS is to continue improving performance then we also need to see a solution to challenges in social care.”
Care minister Stephen Kinnock said: “We are grateful for the committee’s work and will respond formally in due course. Far from inaction, this government has hit the ground running on social care.
“We inherited a social care system in crisis and took immediate action with our Plan for Change – with a funding boost of up to £3.7 billion, an extra 15,000 home adaptations for disabled people, a £2,000 uplift to Carer’s Allowance, and the first ever Fair Pay Agreement for care workers. A lot has been done, but we know there is so much more to do and deep reform is needed.”
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