Counties outline social care reform priorities

The County Councils Network has outlined the themes it believes should be at the heart of reform the adult social care system in the wake coronavirus pandemic.

The paper has been released to help shape thinking around the long-awaited social care green paper, and argues strongly that care should be kept local in any reform as councils have delivered quality services despite funding challenges and its links with other areas such as housing, public health, and children’s social care.

The four themes encompass:

Scope: taking full account of the wide range of adult social care services delivered by councils and ensuring reform fully considers working age adults as well as older people and hospital discharges.

Infrastructure: considering the best ways to deliver an adult social care system which is of high quality, provides value for money, and fully engages communities.

Resource: providing the right resources to help adult social care be commissioned effectively to meet the needs of local communities.

Improvement: putting in place the necessary framework to not only ensures quality but create an ongoing culture of continuous improvement which helps everyone to live their best lives for as long as possible.

David Fothergill, CCN spokesperson for health and social care, said: “County authorities have been warning for several years that the adult social care system has been close to breaking point.  Coronavirus has thrown into sharp focus the urgent need for reform of the system – a move which CCN and its member authorities would very much welcome.

“However, any such reform must focus not on a narrow health-centric view of hospital discharges or care in residential homes but recognise the huge fabric of social care provision managed by local authorities – including for those of working age with chronic conditions or mental health issues.

“Adult social care is, fundamentally, a local community service and any proposals for reform needs to consider the role local authorities have played in delivering quality care despite yearly funding reductions, rather than any knee-jerk moves towards centralisation. We therefore urge the government to take on board the principles outlined in this paper so that county councils’ extensive experience of delivering adult social care is fully reflected in any future proposals for reform.”