More than 20 social care CEOs and directors have united to challenge the government’s 10 Year Health Plan.
At a roundtable discussion organised by The Access Group and Casson Consulting in London, leaders discussed what role adult social care will play in the 10 Year Health Plan’s delivery.
All agreed that, despite social care’s centrality to the plan, the sector is receiving no more than a passing reference from the government.
The discussion was chaired by Kathryn Marsden OBE, CEO of Social Care Institute for Excellence and Gary Fee, CEO of City and County Healthcare Group.
During the event, Marsden said: “The 10 Year Health Plan is framed primarily through an NHS lens, with only passing reference to social care. If the three shifts are to succeed, social care must not only be recognised as integral but also actively positioned as the enabler.
“This means aligning care services with the Plan’s ambitions; embedding social care in neighbourhood health systems, digitising to connect care pathways, and harnessing the care sector’s prevention capacity and capabilities.
“Without this, the Plan risks repeating past failures of integration.”
The roundtable saw senior leaders point to high demands for social care services and long waiting lists, eager to highlight that they are feeling sustained pressure.
Criticising the government’s lack of social care mention, Fee said: “Being kept outside the design but inside the delivery doesn’t work. Social care knows what keeps people well, prevents admissions and speeds recovery. That expertise must shape the Plan from the start.”
He encouraged all attendees to step forward as an equal partner with the NHS, concluding: “You cannot fix a whole system by empowering only half of it.
“The 10 Year Health Plan stands or falls on outcomes, and those outcomes depend on social care. As a sector it is time we step forward and help shape a system worthy of the nation’s health.”
