Adult Social Care in Need of a Radical Overhaul

A radical overhaul of the adult social care system is being called for by Birmingham University researchers following an independent analysis of the social and financial gains that could be reaped. The case for social care reform - the wider economic and social benefits, which was produced by the University of Birmingham's Health Services Management Centre, concludes that without a radical rethink of current priorities the real cost of providing social care will double in the next twenty years. The report's authors argue that spending on adult social care should not be seen as 'dead money'. Instead, it is a form of social and economic investment that has the potential to deliver a better service for the people who use social care services, whilst also generating significant savings in other parts of the welfare state. An improved social care system could generate significant savings by reducing the number of hospital admissions and the pressure on emergency hospital beds. The report also argues that helping social care users into paid employment could reduce social security spending whilst also providing a significant boost to the economy. Professor Jon Glasby, the report's lead author, comments: "In recent years, there has been a growing awareness that aspects of the adult social care system are fundamentally broken.