01.05.11
Bed-blocking blame game
If the cuts to social care for elderly people are responsible for the worsening situation with bed-blocking, there will have to be another solution found – because more money to deal with it seems unlikely.
It is a quick saving for councils facing spiralling social care costs to see people they would otherwise need to support in an NHS facility instead, but it is unsustainable in the long term if people with immediate medical needs are suffering. It cost the NHS £170m even before the council cuts, and is no way to treat people who need a different and more specialised kind of care. The shift in social care towards reablement and independent budgets should help – but in the meantime, with money tight all round, who should step in?
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