Wanless And The Future Of Social Care

Following on from my semi-articulate post on the cost of caring, the Guardian carries an overview of the Wanless proposals for expanding basic social-care services to elderly people. Wanless calculates that the social care spend needs to triple to around £30 billion by 2026 to meet the anticipated needs of the baby-boomer generation.

Wanless comments that the present system means that only the rich or those on means-tested support "could meet the "catastrophic" costs of the care packages needed by the most infirm". He says:

there should be universal care for all older people needing it, including help with bathing, dressing and feeding. But instead of there being a limited service for free, as happened in Scotland, there should be a partnership approach funding more generous provision. The state should pay 66% of the bill and the rest should be funded equally by the state and the individual, he said. Anyone not wanting to pay this contribution could forgo the extra service. The poorest should get help via benefits to pay for their contribution...

By 2026 the number of people in England over the age of 85 will have risen by two-thirds. Up to 450,000 more people will need a care home place or social care services to stay at home.

The report is said to support the conclusion that greater spending on improved social care for elderly people would reduce NHS spending. More than 40 per cent of the NHS budget is currently spent on people aged over 65. James Bartholomew argues that "no country neglects its elderly as badly as Britain does". If elderly people genuinely account for more than 40% of the NHS budget that I should think there are few countries that are achieving such poor outcomes for its expenditure.

Even Wanless's basic social care package is costed at £30 billion per year by 2026. I would like to see a financial calculation for the total combined cost of care. And these estimates seem to be related to caring costs - with no improvement in the lot of carers. There also seems to be no plan to improve the circumstances of carers. I hope that I'm wrong, and that I have just not seen these aspects reported as yet. If carers have been omitted from the report, then it is a startling omission.

Copyright 2006, Tony Plant Happystance Project