Ministers making ‘slow progress’ on integrating health and social care, damning report warns
The National Audit Office claimed that the separation between health and social care was failing to cope with Britain's ageing population
GOVERNMENT auditors blasted ministers for making "slow progress" on integrating health and social care in the NHS.
A damning report by the National Audit Office warned that the separation between health and social care was failing to cope with Britain's ageing population.
It said much faster integration was needed.
The report found that the financial pressure that the NHS and local government are under makes closer working between them difficult and can divert them from focusing on efforts to transform services.
It also criticised the Government for delays to its plans for the future funding of adult social care - which has been put back until the autumn.
The NAO study warned: "The government has made slow progress towards its longstanding objective of changing the way these services are delivered through better integration."
In a thinly-veiled attack on Theresa May and Health and Social Care Secretary Jeremy Hunt, NAO chief Amyas Morse said: "Serious political leadership is needed.”
The auditor also reiterated warnings that the £21 billion a year cash injection announced by the PM last month would still leave the NHS “not fully enough funded to meet its own commitments”.
Mr Morse said: “No one across government or the civil service would disagree that health and social care have to be in balance to give people quality of life, and to use the available national and local resources as efficiently as possible.
“The hard part is agreeing how that balance is to be achieved and maintained, and who is willing to sacrifice what to bring it about. The NHS did not like funds being syphoned off through the better care fund, whilst local government has reservations about sacrificing over half of its financial resources towards NHS England’s priorities, which risks eroding local democracy.
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“The answer may lie in local flexibility, but that could leave serious gaps in delivering what is needed – an integrated service.”
Responding to the report, British Medical Association chief Dr Chaand Nagpaul said: “The planned rise will also fail to close the gap between the UK and other European health economies, meaning we will still have fewer beds, doctors and equipment than countries such as Germany, France and the Netherlands.
“Politicians of all parties must realise that the scale of the all year crisis facing the NHS demands a significant and sustainable period of investment that gives patients the first class care they deserve.”
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