CONTEXT Pressures on health and social care While it has long been recognised that care sector have expressed their concern that this is “prevention is better than cure”, the UK’s health not enough to fill the funding gap in an open letter to and social care system has largely focussed on the Chancellor and Secretaries of State: reacting to crises rather than preventing them. Health is under real pressure with figure warnings ‘...the package put forward for of a £30 billion funding gap in the health budget by social care will not enable [them] 8 the end of the decade (28 per cent of the budget) to fill the current gap in funding, and an estimated funding gap for adult social care cover additional costs associated over the same period of £4.3 billion (29 per cent of 9 the budget) . with the introduction of the Britain’s population is ageing fast. More than one National Living Wage, nor fully in 12 of the population is projected to be aged 80 or meet future growth in demand 10 over by mid-2039 . At the same time, local authority 16 budgets have been cut. In the last five years, adult due to our ageing population.’ social care budgets have been reduced by £4.6 billion, representing 31 per cent of real terms net 11 Something needs to change budgets. Further cuts to local authority budgets were announced in the Chancellor’s 2015 Spending One way to ease the pressure is to invest in Review. preventative services… These cuts adversely affect the NHS. 88 per It pays to spend on prevention. Investing in cent of NHS Trust finance directors and 80 per preventing minor situations escalating into crises cent of clinical commissioning group (CCG) finance is more cost-effective than picking up the pieces. leads feel funding pressures on local authorities This principle applies across health and social care are adversely affecting the performance of health 12 and should span our lifetimes. It should also be services in their local health economy. enshrined in universal public health campaigns, right The Chancellor has responded to these up to the management of chronic illnesses and long warnings by committing an additional £10 billion term conditions. a year in real terms to the NHS by 2020. During his Directors of adult social care recognise this. 2015 Spending Review and Autumn Statement, he Seventy-three per cent of the Association of announced that £6 billion of this money will be made Directors of Adult Social Services’ (ADASS) Budget available next year. He also gave local authorities the Survey 2015 respondents see increased prevention power to increase social care funding through a new and early intervention as the top area for savings in two per cent Council Tax precept, claiming this could 17 13 2016/17 and beyond. ‘bring almost £2 billion more into the care system . Yet the two per cent levy has been criticised, with There is good evidence of these cost savings. claims it ‘will not raise enough to close the social An independent economic analysis of Red Cross care funding gap and will disadvantage deprived lower-level preventative services by the London areas with the highest needs for publicly funded School of Economics and Political Science identified 14 cost savings related to a reduced need for care and care’ . And Simon Stevens, the chief executive 18 of the NHS has since called for ‘a new national support equivalent to £880 per person . consensus on properly resourced and functioning 15 social care services’ . Finally, leaders of the social British Red Cross Prevention in action [email protected] 8 l l