Health and Care White Paper: CCN response

Today the government will publish its Health and Care White Paper, which will outline reforms to both the health service and adult social care in a bid to closer integrate local healthcare.

Below, the County Councils Network responds.

Cllr David Fothergill, health and social care spokesperson for the County Councils Network, said:

“There is much to welcome in these proposed reforms. We have consistently argued for close engagement and parity of esteem between health and care professionals and between the NHS and councils. Local government must be an equal partner in Integrated Care Systems and these bodies should be closely aligned to social care authorities’ boundaries to reduce complexity and enhance local collaboration.

“We also recognise the need for greater transparency in social care, but any new performance and inspection regime must be co-designed with local government. Today’s white paper proposes some initial reforms to adult social care assurance and reporting whilst indicating a broader set of reforms will be set out later this year.

“This broader approach to reform is essential: our report with Newton released this week proposes an optimised model of social care and shows what could be possible through well integrated, locally-led services. This must be underpinned by long-term funding reform for social care.”

The white paper is published a day after a major new report, The Future of Adult Social Care, was released by the County Councils Network, produced by Newton. It argues that social care should have parity of esteem with the NHS and sets out a blueprint for a reformed local social care system, delivered by councils.

The video below sets out a summary of the report and you can download it and visit an interactive microsite here.