A rapid wave of hospital discharges is draining resources and leaving vulnerable people at risk of missing out on basic preventive social care at home, local government leaders have warned.
Despite cross-party support for expanding early care at home, city hall officials are being forced to allocate resources to people with more complex needs, many of whom are being discharged from hospital earlier, as part of efforts to clear the NHS backlog.
That meant thousands of people were “at risk of being left behind.” [on care] Or their needs are escalating,” the Association of Directors of Adult Social Care Services in England (Adass) warned after its annual survey of 153 local authority social care directors in England.
The results revealed that only one in 10 directors are fully confident that their budgets will meet their statutory obligations, down from more than a third before the coronavirus pandemic.
One social care leader, Jane Townson, chief executive of the Home Care Association, likened the pressures of the current situation to “juggling burning torches”.
Spending to prevent people’s conditions from worsening has been cut by £121 million in the past year. The increasing complexity of cases has forced local authorities to overspend by £586 million – the highest in at least a decade – sparking raids. Decreasing congressional reserve funds.
Melanie Williams, Adas leader and head of adult social services for Nottinghamshire County Council, said the findings were “unsustainable and worrying”.
“Instead of focusing on investing in hospitals and freeing up beds, the new government should be investing more in social care, supporting unpaid carers and providing healthcare in the community to prevent people from falling into crisis and ending up in hospital in the first place,” she said.
Helen Wildbore, chief executive of Care Rights UK, the organisation which represents care recipients and their families, said that behind the statistics were “people whose lives are being destroyed by overstretched budgets and a focus on systems rather than people”.
“This cannot continue,” she said. “The new government has many urgent priorities, but ensuring dignity and respect for our most vulnerable people – older people and people with disabilities – must be at the top of the list.”
However, there was some good news, with the number of people waiting for care or an assessment falling by 11% in the six months to 31 March 2024 to 418,029.
Labour has pledged to create a national care service, build closer cooperation between hospitals and the care sector to manage hospital discharges, and look at strengthening the role of care workers in essential health treatment and monitoring.
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But the government has not made any funding announcements, stressing on Monday that it was still in the early stages of its new administration. Last week, Health Minister Wes Streeting said he would redirect funding from hospitals to general practitioners “to give people more access to care closer to home.”
The increasingly complex needs of people discharged from hospital, and the growing demand for “two-person care”, are a major concern. The number of people needing visits from two or more carers rose by 7.5% last year. The average number of hours of home care provided per person by local authorities will increase from 697 hours in 2022 to 750 hours in 2024, with spending on home care increasing by just over a quarter over this period.
Martin Tett, leader of Buckinghamshire County Council and spokesman for adult social care for the County Council Network, said the English parliament’s research “shows how the social care system is under pressure, with more people needing more complex care and as a result local authorities overspending”.
“Ministers must plan sustainable, long-term funding for local authorities that is allocated according to local need.”
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesman said: “We are determined to tackle the significant challenges facing social care head on and will deliver a deep-rooted programme of reform to create a national care service and ensure everyone has access to the care they need.”
