Social care is at breaking point
THE provisional local government finance settlement does little to allay the urgent concerns of those who rely on social care.
The settlement sets out funding for social care simply as an add-on to the NHS, with £240 million to ease winter pressures and a further £410m to primarily reduce demand for healthcare.
At Dimensions, we know that social care can and should be so much more than a poor relation of the NHS.
Social care supports people to live independently and is the foundation of a fair and inclusive society. The finance settlement fails to recognise this and will leave many people with learning disabilities and autism increasingly worried about the future of their support.
With the government also delaying publication of the longawaited social care green paper, it is fair to question how much the government values the many people who rely on social care in their day to day lives.
The sector is at breaking point. Social care delivers the support that stops people needing hospital care and ATUs and it does not make economic sense to bury the crisis under layers of neglect. Alicia Wood Dimensions