Budget 2017: Social care providers must use the money wisely

Chancellor of the Exchequer Phillip Hammond has delivered his first Budget – and promised councils a much needed £2bn for social care, as well as the NHS a further £425m.

We’ve all seen the news about the NHS being stretched to its limits. Overcrowded hospitals, emergency departments overflowing with patients, long waiting times and cancelled appointments are never too far away from the front pages of our newspapers.

Many said it was about the lack of funding. But will this new injection of cash ease the current issues? Will it be the panacea to cure the symptoms?

The Institute for Fiscal Studies says real spending growth on the whole health sector had since dropped to its lowest rate since the 1950s – so that could have something to do with it. Though the UK still is widely regarded as having a better health care system than that of the many other countries, including the US where spending is almost double the GDP compared to the UK.

It may be a cliché, but prevention is cheaper than the cure. Targeted investment in early intervention and prevention could take much of the burden away from the NHS front line and help avoid the scenes seen in hospitals last winter.

Almost 200 home improvement agencies, or HIAs, work with vulnerable people in their local communities and support them with services designed to help them stay out of hospital or residential care. And the cost savings can be huge.

With the average ambulance call out costing £349, a hospital stay costing £3,390 and one year’s residential stay costing £29,000, a relatively small investment to organisations working to keep people safe, secure and happy in their own homes is surely worth it.

It is estimated home independence organisations like HIAs could save the health and care sectors almost £1bn each year.

HIAs work with people to adapt their homes, obtain benefits and grants they’re entitled to and give crucial advice and information to help them access services that will positively change their lives. Put simply, a grab rail supplied and installed for under £30 in an elderly person’s home could prevent a fall which would have cost the NHS thousands. A little goes a long way.

The charity Age UK believes 1.2 million people aged 65 and over in the UK do not receive the care and support they need, and I can believe it. The people we see often don’t know the help that’s available to them – and while it’s the job of HIAs to raise our own profile, targeted funding for the sector is vital to ensuring we can support the front line.

The link between independence organisations and the health sector needs to be more established. GPs need to know the services available in their local community. They’re the people who see people on a day to day basis and understand their needs the most. Referring people in need of support in their own home to us instead of a hospital may not be only quicker and cheaper, it may be better for the individual. A truly integrated health and care sector isn’t just about telling people to go to their pharmacist first. It will take time, but time worth taking.

While I don’t want you to feel sorry for home improvement agencies and their counterparts – councils collectively spend billions each year on services for elderly and disabled people, but have to do so after funding from central government was cut by a third – there is a danger that they’re forgotten about and looked over in favour of other services.

Next year’s council tax hike will help to raise about £600m but that’s likely to be swallowed up by authorities paying higher wages for the same services, when experts warned that an extra £1.3bn is needed next year alone. So this £2bn funding over the next three years should go some way to relieving the build up of pressure – but only if it is spent in the right way.

The people in charge of the purse strings at councils and NHS commissioning groups need to look beyond the headlines and find solutions to the underlying problems.

Mick King is Agency Director at Lincolnshire Home Independence Agency