NHS funding announcement: CCN responds

Today, the Prime Minister is to announce a major funding boost to the NHS to mark the service’s 70th birthday.

Below the County Councils Network responds.

Cllr David Williams, County Councils Network spokesman for health and social care, and leader of Hertfordshire County Council, said:

“This long-term investment for the NHS is welcome but government needs to show the same kind of financial commitment to adult social care. Councils have long warned over the fragility of social care services that desperately need investment; without this, further charges for some services will be introduced whilst other areas will be scaled back. The substantial reductions in delayed transfers of care due to social care shows the fruits of investing in local government.

 “Health and social care should not be viewed in isolation from each other. Extra funding and system reform will complement each other, reducing unplanned and planned hospital admissions and lowering the social care cost burden for local authorities as well as improving residents’ lives. The government’s forthcoming green paper provides the opportunity to give social care the parity with the NHS that the system needs; whilst the Spending Review offers government the platform to invest in local care services.

 “A significant proportion of any NHS, and any future social care investment, must be set aside for prevention, and primary, community and mental health services. We must begin to focus on stopping people from going into hospital in the first place; elderly residents deserve to live independent and dignified lives for as long as possible”