NHS faces year-round crisis over lack of social care, says council chief

The NHS could be plunged into a year-round crisis because of a lack of social care provision, the head of one of England’s biggest councils has warned.

The comments by Andrew Travers, the chief executive of Lambeth council in south London, were made as the chancellor, Philip Hammond, faces pressure to address funding shortages in his spring statement. They follow a warning by the Local Government Association (LGA) that a “tipping point” for adult social care was fast approaching and that inaction from ministers was no longer an option.

Labour said a £6.3bn in adult social care funding had been lost since 2010. Vince Cable, the Liberal Democrat leader, said the sector faced “a very critical situation”.

Travers said that without a long-term solution to funding social care, “it wouldn’t just be a winter NHS crisis – you might see it in the spring, and the autumn”.

The chancellor is expected to deliver a cautious, stripped-down spring statement on Tuesday with few new spending pledges and a modest upgrade to the independent economic forecasts prepared by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR).

Hospitals faced intense pressure over the winter as a lack of available social care places led to thousands of mainly older patients recovering from cold-related illnesses being stuck on wards, blocking beds for new arrivals.

Source: theguardian