Today, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Rt Hon. Thérèse Coffey MP, announced her ‘Plan for Patients’ which included a £500m adult social care discharge fund for the winter, continued work on a national recruitment campaign, and support for international recruitment.
Dr Jane Townson, Chief Executive of the Homecare Association said:
“We are pleased the Secretary of State has recognised the pressures faced by social care and made it one of her priorities. Investing in support and care at home helps to prevent admission to more expensive settings, such as care homes and hospitals. Available homecare also enables people to return home from hospital swiftly and safely when ready. This is better for individuals and less costly for integrated care systems. It makes little sense to neglect people in the community, wait for a crisis, then rely on expensive and limited critical care services.
“We are already seeing the impact of lack of capacity in homecare on the NHS. Demand for health services is rising and delayed discharges from hospital are contributing to increased ambulance response times, and a growth in waiting lists for diagnosis and treatment to over 6.8 million. We are extremely concerned about the impact that additional winter pressures and the rising cost of living will have on the homecare workforce. It is vital that the £500 million is used to help retain homecare workers this winter.
“Ultimately it is the unfavourable pay and terms and conditions of employment experienced by the workforce that has led to a shortage of homecare workers, resulting in inadequate homecare capacity. Without long-term investment in homecare, this short-term funding, though welcome, will be just another sticking plaster that won’t address underlying problems.
“Lack of timely access to health and care services due to lack of available homecare potentially affects all of us. With record numbers of people economically inactive due to long-term illness, the government must invest in homecare to enable economic growth.”