Letter to the Prime Minister on social care reform
Independent chairs of the ICS Network are calling for clarity about the future arrangements for social care in the forthcoming NHS bill.
While ICS Network independent chairs welcome integrated care systems being put onto a statutory footing in the forthcoming health and social care bill, they write that if integration between the NHS and local government is to be successful, clarity and certainty about the future arrangements for social care is needed.
The letter calls for the following, stating the each is essential for social care to be an equal partner with the NHS:
- a long-term plan for social care that sets the priorities for investment and transformation of services and systematically addresses the workforce challenges
- a funding settlement that provides local government with the necessary finance to implement the NHS Long Term Plan over the next five years
- arrangements to protect people from incurring catastrophic care costs by pooling the risk and making the current means-test more generous.
