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The government has confirmed its commitment to bring in new health legislation during this Parliament, but social care reform has again been ‘kicked into the long grass’. Today’s Queen’s Speech confirmed that planned, radical changes to the Health and Social Care Bill 2012 will be laid before Parliament this year. The changes, first outlined in the government’s proposals this February, will put integrated care systems on a statutory footing, dissolve clinical commissioning groups, water down the internal market within the NHS and increase the powers the health secretary has over NHS England and the service. Today’s Queen’s Speech said these changes meant “patients will receive more tailored and preventative care, closer to home [and will] empower the NHS to innovate and embrace technology”. However, it did not add any further information to the government’s already stated plans to “bring forward proposals in 2021” for social care reform. The 2019 Queen’s Speech, the first delivered during Boris Johnson’s tenure as prime minister, promised to bring in ”legislation for long-term social care reform in England”. To date, the government has failed to act on this promise. Read full story Source: HSJ, 11 May 2021

Elderly and vulnerable people could be forced to move out of their own homes into institutional care unless the chancellor invests billions of pounds to shore up social services and reform England’s broken care model, The Independent has been told. In an exclusive interview ahead of Rishi Sunak’s Budget on Wednesday, James Bullion, president of the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS), warned the care system risked “catastrophic failure in some areas” without urgent changes to the way vulnerable people, including younger disabled people, are looked after. He warned the number of people needing care had doubled in some parts of the country since March, as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. Ministers are planning to bring forward reforms to social care later this year, but Mr Bullion, who leads social services in Norfolk, said the system needed at least £4bn over the next two years “just to keep the show on the road”. He warned the sector had been rocked by more than 30,000 deaths in care homes from Covid, with a 40% turnover in staff, higher sickness, and more than 100,000 vacancies on top of rising costs. “We’ve got social care providers who are very much more fragile and at risk than they were a year ago. We were able to pay premiums to providers to keep going, but we've now reached the point where the revenue consequences of the last year will come home to roost. And we're very worried about the impact on the social care market and whether it will still be there for us in a way that it’s been in the past year if we take that support away.” Read full story Source: The Independent, 1 March 2021

The government must immediately deliver a new deal for social care with major investment and better terms for workers, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) has said, as it warned that the sector is “fragile” heading into a second wave of coronavirus infections. In a challenge to ministers, the regulator’s chief executive, Ian Trenholm, said overdue reform of the care sector “needs to happen now – not at some point in the future”. Boris Johnson said in his first speech as prime minister, in July 2019: “We will fix the crisis in social care once and for all.” But no reform has yet been proposed, and more than 15,000 people have died from COVID-19 in England’s care homes. Trenholm said Covid risked turning inequalities in England’s health services from “faultlines into chasms” as the CQC published its annual State of Care report on hospitals, GPs and care services. The report reveals serious problems with mental health, maternity services and emergency care before the pandemic, and says these areas must not be allowed to fall further behind. The regulator argued that the health system’s response to the pandemic needs to change. After focusing on protecting NHS services from being overwhelmed, health leaders must now adapt to prevent people who need help for non-Covid reasons from being left behind, it said. These include people whose operations were cancelled and people from black and minority ethnic backgrounds, people with disabilities, and people living in deprived areas who have suffered more severely from the impact of Covid. “Covid is magnifying inequalities across the health and care system – a seismic upheaval which has disproportionately affected some more than others,” said Trenholm. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 16 October 2020

NHS England has been asked for a “clear plan and timescale” for development during covid of its controversial scheme which aims to provide extra support for care homes. In its adult social care winter plan the government has advised NHS England to push forward with the rollout of the “enhanced health in care homes” programme, ensuring that all care homes are assigned to primary care networks by 1 October. The scheme requires GP practices to provide extra clinical support and advice to homes. PCNs should also nominate a clinical lead for the care homes and work with other providers, such as social prescribing link workers, health and wellbeing coaches and care co-ordinators, to provide personalised care. The winter plan responds to a number of recommendations published by the COVID-19 support taskforce, after reviewing the management of the virus in the sector. It asks NHSE to provide a clear plan and timetable for its “enhanced health in care homes” programme. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 23 September 2020