Social care sector to receive £500m after health secretary announcement

Health Secretary Therese Coffey has unveiled her ‘Plans for Patients’ this winter which includes giving £500m to the social care fund and a new staffing plan. 

Ms Coffey has said her plan ‘sets out a range of measures to help the NHS and social care perform the best for their patients.’  

The health secretary said a ‘national endeavour’ is needed to manage the issues the NHS are facing. 

Her proposal includes: 

• Increasing 999 call handlers 
• 7,000 extra hospital beds this winter 
• £500m social care discharge fund 

• Recruiting one million volunteers 
• Easing pressure on GPs by expanding the role of pharmacies 
• £15m overseas recruitment fund 

To help boost staffing levels within the NHS and social care sector, Ms Coffey has said overseas recruitment will be restarted and £15m will be provided to help employ people from overseas.  

However, despite this announcement, Kari Gerstheimer, CEO and Founder of Access Social Care has said: ‘It is extremely concerning that Therese Coffey is suggesting that skilled care work can be delivered by volunteers in a pandemic-esque ‘” national endeavour” to bolster social care services. 

‘What we witnessed during the pandemic was millions of people going without the care deserve, and unpaid carers being pressured into unsustainable caring roles.’ 

The £500m set to go to the social care sector will be in the form of a down payment and is designed to free up hospital beds.   

The grant will be able to tackle the issue of people being fit for discharge from hospital but unable to receive care from home.  

This is preventing new hospital admissions and is causing backlog in ambulances handovers to accident and emergency departments.  

Dr Jane Townson, Chief Executive of the Homecare Association said whilst she is pleased the Secretary of State has recognised the pressures social care is facing, it may not be enough.  

Dr Townson said: ‘Demand for health services is rising and delayed discharges from hospitals are contributing to increased ambulance response times, and a growth in waiting lists for diagnosis and treatment to over 6.8m.’  

‘Ultimately it is the unfavourable pay and terms and conditions of employment experience by the workforce that has led to a shortage of homecare workers,’ she adds ‘Without long-term investment in homecare this short-term funding will just be another sticking plaster that won’t address underlying problems.’  

Ms Gerstheimer has also expressed her concerns regarding the reliability of the governments promise: ‘If our government wishes to put social care on a ‘firm footing’, they must properly address both the lack of financing and the workforce crisis.  

‘We can only hope our political class commit to serious long-term funding solutions, and not buck-passing to local authorities and unpaid carers.’  

Photo by Hush Naidoo Jade Photography