News Release issued by
the COI News Distribution Service on 15 September 2011
Experts have been
enlisted to help the Government’s discussions on how to improve
the care system in England, Care Services Minister Paul Burstow
announced today.
From Monday, the Caring for Our Future engagement
exercise aims to pinpoint the priorities that this Government
needs to focus on to inform its formal plans to improve the care
system. This follows on from the report on Commission on Funding
of Care and Support. It aims to use the report as the basis for
engagement as a key part of a wider care and support reform
agenda.
To assist with this, the Department of Health has asked key
leaders from the care and support community to help it to lead
discussions on six broad themes:
Quality - Imelda Redmond (Carers UK)
Personalisation of Care - Jeremy Hughes
(Alzheimer’s Society)
Shaping local care services - Peter Hay (ADASS)
Prevention - Alex Fox (NAAPS)
Integration (in partnership with the NHS Future
Forum) - Geoff Alltimes (Hammersmith and Fulham Council)
and Dr Robert Varnam (Practising GP, Manchester)
Role of financial services – Nick Kirwan (ABI)
Paul Burstow said:
“Care services can make a profound difference to the day-to-day
lives of millions of people in this country.
“I know the current care system needs to change. People tell me
that it is unfair, confusing and unpopular, which is why we need
to act and ensure the system is sustainable for the long term.
“I want to see high-quality care that gives people choice in how
their needs and ambitions are met, and helps them to live
independent, active and healthy lives.“
It is estimated that within 20 years, the number of over 85s will
double, and the number of people living with life-long
disabilities is likely to grow too. People want to see higher
quality care, with choice and control over the services they use.
With the mixture of greater expectation and greater demand on
services, we must act to improve the system.
Collaborative working with a range of people and organisations
involved in care and support, drawing upon the networks of
expertise and experience that have developed over many years will
be essential to this.
As part of Caring for Our Future, the Government also
wants to hear people’s views on the recommendations made by the
Commission on Funding of Care and Support and how we should assess
these proposals, including in relation to other potential
priorities for improvement. Later in the autumn the Government
will ask the six discussion leaders to bring together the views
they have gathered on support for the Commission’s proposals, and
the wider priorities for change.
Over the next three months, the department wants to hear the
views of people who use care and support services – carers, local
councils, care providers and the voluntary sector, about how to
improve the care and support system and what the priorities for
change are.
Making changes to the care and support system will not be not
simple. There are no easy answers. The Government recognises that
these are difficult economic times, and will have to carefully
weigh up different priorities and calls on resources before
deciding how to act.
This engagement will help decide next steps and inform the
Government’s White Paper, and progress report on funding reform,
planned for spring 2012.
Notes to Editors:
1) This engagement period follows on from the recent publications
of two independent reports from the Law Commission on simplifying
and modernising the social care legal framework, and the Dilnot
Commission on Funding of Care and Support.
2) The detailed question under each broad heading are as follows:
Quality: how could we improve the quality of
the care and how could we support the care workforce to do this?
Personalisation: how could we give people
more choice and control over the care and support they use, and
help them to make informed decisions?
Shaping local care services: how could we
ensure there is a wide range of organisations that provide
innovative and responsive care services and that respond to
people’s needs and choices?
Prevention: how could we support more
effective prevention and early intervention to keep people
independent and in good health for as long as possible?
Integration (in partnership with the NHS Future
Forum): how could we build better connections locally between
the NHS and other care services?
The role of the financial services: what role
could the financial services sector play in supporting care users,
carers and their families?
3) For more information on the engagement exercise please see link:
http://caringforourfuture.dh.gov.uk
4) This engagement exercise is not independent of Government. We
want to co-produce this together with leaders in social care, who
will co-lead workstreams with the Department of Health.
5) We are working in partnership with the NHS Future Forum
integrated working project to develop ‘one process’ for engagement
on the integration challenge. The outcome of the Forum's
work will be central to shaping our understanding of the relative
priorities for action and in informing the development of the Care
and Support White Paper planned for Spring 2012.
Contacts:
Department of Health
Phone: 020 7210 5221
NDS.DH@coi.gsi.gov.uk