Winter crisis not the fault of social care
Published by Professional Social Work magazine, 9 February 2023
Leaders of adult social services have criticised the government for appearing to blame social care for the winter hospital crisis.
The Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS) joined forces with the Local Government Association and Solace to send a letter to health and social care secretary Steve Barclay stating: “This winter, with the scale of pressures so severe, councils’ adult social care teams are working around the clock to mitigate the strain our health service is under.
“We are concerned about the manner in which social care is being portrayed and the level of engagement with local government in national discussions about delayed discharge.
“The narrative frequently presents social care as being at fault or to blame for all delays to discharge, despite social care having never been the primary reason. Indeed, there has been a significant increase in care at home delivered by social care, albeit that need has increased even more rapidly.”
The letter calls for a short-term focus on simple discharges, voluntary sector support, more support for unpaid carers and investment in reablement, as well as increased pay in the sector.
Longer term prevention and recovery services, and better investment in community support will also be needed to resolve the current crisis, the letter stated.
It was sent as ADASS director Sarah McClinton cautiously welcomed the announcement of a government plan to help address urgent and emergency care services, reduce waiting times and improve hospital discharge.
McClinton tweeted: “Encouraging to see direction of travel. Success will depend on valued workforce across health and social care, expanding therapies and community services to support recovery in people’s own homes.”
Her comments come in the wake of an ADASS survey in which leaders stated there is neither the funding nor the workforce to meet the needs of older and disabled people this winter.
The majority (94 per cent) of adult social services directors in England stated they did not believe they have either to meet care costs of older and disabled people in their area.
And almost all directors of adult social services across England said there were not enough care workers to support the vulnerable.
Fewer than one in ten directors thought they could manage with existing resources over the next few months, the ADASS survey found. Three in four said they could not cope if a large care provider were to fail.
Cathie Williams, ADASS chief executive, said: “Only a handful of directors have any confidence they may be able to get through the winter with the funding they have and the care workers available locally.
“We desperately need another significant injection of emergency funding to provide more help for people at home.
“If the Chancellor is going to postpone next year’s charging reforms, he must ensure that the cash already allocated for them is re-purposed to bring forward other measures that have an immediate impact on the ground so that more older and disabled people get the care and support they need.”