Care Bill [HL]

Baroness Donaghy Excerpts

Tuesday 21st May 2013 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Donaghy]

My Lords, I welcome the introduction of the Care Bill. There are areas which I hope to see strengthened, but it represents a basic framework on which future generations should be able to build. My concern is how we make the words a reality. It is not the first time that this has been mentioned in debates. Will future funding restraints prevent any real improvements? How can we ensure the essential co-ordination between hospital care and home or residential care? My final concern is around the capacity and welfare of our workforce in health and social care and in local authorities. To make the words a reality the Care Bill must, in the words of Age UK,

“make a tangible difference to the lives of people with care and support needs who are currently effectively ignored by the system”.

The Bill contains measures to ensure a single national eligibility threshold for care services, but if, as the noble Lord, Lord Rix, has already mentioned, the regulations set the minimum level at “substantial” rather than “moderate”, it would affect 100,000 people and would render a national system meaningless. Age UK asks for the Bill to be strengthened in a number of ways, for instance by linking eligibility for social care to the achievement of outcomes based on the individual’s well-being, as defined in the Bill. The requirements on local authorities to plan to meet the diverse needs of their populations and to promote quality and choice could be strengthened by requiring service commissioners to monitor and take action where necessary. Clause 8, describing the kinds of support which local authorities must offer, should include issues such as transport.

Finally, on turning words into deeds, good quality information and advice is needed. The most stressful thing for any family caring for the frail elderly is finding their way through the maze, feeling unsupported and fearful that they are not accessing the best possible services for their loved one. Website information is welcome, but some people need more intensive help. The clause on advocacy has already been mentioned. It should be strengthened, perhaps by creating a positive duty on local authorities to ensure that someone has the help and advice they need.

Secondly, despite not being written in the scope of this Bill, future funding is critical for its success. As many of us have said in this and previous debates, there have been real-terms cuts to social care funding: 7.7% in 2011-12 and 6.8% in 2012-13. The rising levels of unmet need are such that 800,000 people who need care now are not receiving it. The Nuffield Trust calculates that,

“there would be a funding gap of between £7 and £9 billion by 2021/22 if funding were held constant in real terms”.

It adds:

“These funding pressures would rise to between five and six per cent a year if the recommendations of the Commission on Funding of Care and Support were implemented, resulting in a total funding gap of £10 to £12 billion by 2021/22”.

This gap will have to be faced by the next elected Government and will probably be met only by a combination of productivity savings, managing chronic conditions, holding down pay and taking a larger share of public funding. The social care funding gap is likely to be between 3% and 6% a year, depending on trends in chronic conditions, and Dilnot costs of course. The Nuffield Trust concludes that:

“The NHS in England may face continued austerity measures into the early 2020s”,

which is something of an understatement.

The Local Government Association supports the intentions behind the Bill but has pointed out that,

“the government’s austerity programme … does not fit well with the aspirations of the Bill”.

Policy decisions and financial decisions have become detached. The point about underfunding has also been made by the Care & Support Alliance and Age UK.

The need to co-ordinate health and social care is going to become even more desperate. In its response to the Francis public inquiry report, the Nuffield Trust states:

“The reality is that more and more trusts will be treating large numbers of sicker, older adults in an atmosphere of pay restraint and frozen budgets”,

and recommends that,

“the highest priority for initial development of fundamental standards be given to care of the frail older people on acute wards … and that this priority should shape any new requirements for data collection in NHS trusts set by the NHS Commissioning Board or the Care Quality Commission”.

The NHS is already creaking under the weight of our failure to solve the social care crisis. When I was a carer, I fought tooth and nail for my mother to be allowed to stay in hospital until her health improved rather than be sent back to the care home where she spent the last 18 months of her life—not that her care was good in hospital; it was a choice between bad and worse. I understand the dilemma of families who want to do the best for their elderly relatives. Perhaps we need more halfway house temporary accommodation, jointly funded by the NHS and local authorities or charities, to relieve the undoubted pressure on hospital beds. If care standards in residential homes were better, that would relieve pressure on hospital beds.

The changes proposed in the Bill will put enormous pressure on staff in the health service, social care and local authorities generally. The Joint Committee on the draft care and support Bill has already raised the issue of initial and ongoing training and support needed for local authority staff and social workers. Others have dealt with the certification of care workers. Long shifts and low pay are a real problem in residential homes and often determine the quality and commitment of staff. With all these new responsibilities being piled upon staff by this Bill, we should not forget our responsibility to meet their capacity and welfare needs. Also, the statutory requirement for candour may not sit easily with a more market-oriented approach to health and social care. This would also place a tremendous burden on some staff.

Finally, I have not referred to the “Dilnot-lite” elements of the Bill. Of course it is disappointing that the Dilnot figure was not accepted. The proposed figure will benefit very few people, particularly with the additional £12,000 a year overhead costs, but it is a start and having a framework is very important.

The timetable for the Mesothelioma Bill clashes with the Committee stage of this Bill, so I will not be able to be present for the early stages, but looking around I feel sure that all angles will be well covered by noble Lords on all sides of the House.