Coalition government announces Commission on Long Term Care
2010-05-31 11:39:00
The new government has announced it is establishing an independent Commission on Long Term Care that will advise on how social care should be funded in future. The Commission will report back within a year. Health Secretary Andrew Lansley (Conservative) also revealed that the government will not be introducing Labour’s Personal Care at Home Bill, previously scheduled for April 2011 – indicating that the new government has abandoned Labour’s plans for free social care. The new Care Services Minister, Paul Barstow (Liberal Democrats), comments on the Commission’s role: ‘The Commission on Long Term care will be tasked with delivering a sustainable settlement, which is a fair partnership between the state and the individual.’ His comments suggest that any new system will be at least partly funded by the taxpayer.
The government also announced plans to reform the NHS with a view to improving patient outcomes. Key measures include:
- Merging health and social care budgets and prioritising preventative care
- Rolling out personal health budgets to more older and disabled people and their carers
- Increasing direct payments to carers and improving access to respite care.
These intentions have been welcomed by charities representing older and disabled people, including Age UK, the Alzheimer’s Society, Parkinson’s UK and Counsel and Care. However, the charities also called on the government to make sure it honours its commitment and acts quickly and radically enough to rescue the social care system from its current state of crisis.