Care England Comments: Caring Closer to Home

On Tuesday 13 February, The King’s Fund published their report calling for radical refocusing of health and care systems, to put primary and community services at its core.

In response to this, Professor Martin Green OBE, Chief Executive of Care England said:

 

“This report brings to life the consequences of the Government’s continued focus on trying to fix the NHS, without fixing the social care sector. Care England wholeheartedly supports shifting the national focus away from hospitals towards primary and community health and care. As we have repeatedly warned, acute pressures and the short-term nature of Government funding cycles dominate health and care leaders’ capacity and resources. This means their scope to focus on long-term outcomes such as prevention is significantly hampered. The introduction of Integrated Care Systems has not been the watershed moment we were hoping for and whilst still in their infancy, this report underscores there is still a long way to go. We must strive for a system that is able to achieve meaningful outcomes, where people can have a seamless journey across health and social care.”