16.07.12
Short-term solution to social care in NHS underspend
A group of MPs has suggesting covering the funding gap in social care with the left-over funds from the NHS budget.
The All-Party Parliamentary Group for Local Government have produced a report stating that underspend from NHS budgets would be put to better use by being invested directly into social care, rather than going straight back to the Treasury.
The funding gap in social care currently stands at £634m per year and the group of MPs, chaired by Conservative MP Heather Wheeler, has calculated that less than half of the NHS underspend would cover this expenditure. The Nuffield Trust and the Institute for Fiscal Studies have put the annual NHS underspend at £1.5bn, ahead of savings accruing.
Wheeler stressed that this is not a long-term solution but a temporary measure to ensure “decent adult social care for our residents”. She and her fellow MPs want to see the money directed into integrated preventative services.
The report produced by the group also claims that greater spending on preventative services would produce savings elsewhere in the NHS. The report cites research claiming that such funding could save the NHS £1.20 for every £1 spent.
These measures, however, do not address the funding issues brought forward by health secretary Andrew Lansley’s proposed reform of the social insurance scheme.
These reforms follow on from the Dilnot report, which proposed a spending cap of £35,000 and a means-tested threshold of £100,000 that would initially cost the taxpayer £1.7bn per annum. The Department of Health has estimated that these costs would escalate to £4.2bn by 2025.
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