A Sisyphean task for health and social care?

摘要

The recent appointment of Camilla Cavendish to advise on the future of social care, including potentially handing it over to the NHS to run, has made me ask myself whether that would actually 'fix the crisis in social care' as the Prime Minister has promised he would do. Is it also the right thing to do for the NHS, social care and, most importantly, the people of Britain who rely upon both? There are three main areas for consideration when determining whether social care and the public would fare better under the control of the NHS. The provision of social care is often described as a postcode lottery, dependent upon the funding and priorities for each local authority, but the Care Act 2014 gives a national eligibility criteria that all councils must apply. How much people pay towards the cost of their care and support, in the form of client contributions, is also determined nationally through the use of the Fairer Charging Guidance. It is also worth noting that, despite having a 'National Health Service', there remains a lottery in respect of our access to that healthcare with vast differences in provision and treatment thresholds between local clinical commissioning groups and A&E performance and hospital waiting lists between provider trusts.