The Local Government Association has warned against the Government’s proposals to move thousands of NHS patients in England into care homes as part a plan to ease pressure on hospitals.
The plan will see the NHS being given an extra £250 millionto buy thousands of beds in care homes amid the currentwinter crisis. Ministers believe this will free up hospital beds so patients can be admitted more quickly from A&E to hospital wards.
Estimates suggest that there are currently about 13,000 medically fit patients occupying beds in England.
“Getting people out of hospital on time is more important than ever,” said Helen Whately, minister for care. “It’s good for patients and it helps hospitals make space for those who need urgent care.”
The package announced on Monday will include trials of other ideas to free up hospital beds in six areas of England.
The Government believe these ideas, which include dedicated dementia hubs and new options for rehabilitative care, could be rolled out across the NHS if successful.
The money is being welcomed by the NHS, but Labour question why it has taken so long to release £500 million of winter funding that was announced in September, which was supposed to speed up discharges from hospital wards. While the extra funding is being described as a “piecemeal” by the Local Government Association.
Cllr David Fothergill, Chairman of the Local Government Association Community Wellbeing Board said: “A decade of consistent underfunding of social care and underinvestment in community health services has led us into this crisis and it will not be fixed through tacked-on funding that fails to address any of the root causes of this situation.
“Councils recognise the immediate issue of pressures on hospitals and the desire to expand capacity through use of care home beds. It is important that any beds purchased by the NHS must be clearly earmarked as short-term recovery beds and have full wrap around support-to-support people to get home as quickly as possible. The NHS should also agree the purchase of such beds and how the wrap around support will be provided with local councils so that there is a consistent approach to the local care market. It is vital that there is agreement about funding the ongoing support for people if the NHS funding of a place is time limited.
“This piecemeal allocation of funding is no substitute for a strategic approach to the pressure on hospital beds which requires a much broader range of actions to prevent admission, streamline discharge for those that do not need social care and focus on capacity to support recovery.
“It is disappointing that so much of the current narrative on social care implies it exists solely to ease pressure on the NHS and is failing to do its job. Many people rely on social care to support them to live independent and fulfilling lives and the continual focus on supporting the NHS, important though it is, places these vital services at risk. Until the Government presents social care as an essential service in its own right – valued equally highly as the NHS – we will continue to lurch from one sticking plaster to the next.
“We have consistently said that £13 billion is needed for social care so that its many pressures can be addressed and councils can deliver on all of their statutory duties. This is the level of investment needed to ensure people of all ages can live an equal life and reduce the need for hospital treatment in the first place.”
And Labour’s shadow health secretary, Wes Streeting, said the announcement was “another sticking plaster”.
He said: “This is yet another sticking plaster to cover the fact that under the Conservatives, our health and care services are buckling.
“The Tories’ failure to fix social care means thousands of patients who are medically fit to be discharged remain stranded, leaving hospitals gridlocked. It is worse for patients and more expensive for the taxpayer.
“Labour would tackle to the root cause of the crisis and by recruiting and retaining more carers through ensuring full rights at work, decent standards, fair pay, and proper training as the first step towards a National Care Service.”