Adult social care "unfit for purpose" health experts warn

The adult social care system is "fundamentally broken" and "unfit for purpose" health experts warn today (Wednesday), amid calls for a radical shake-up for service provision. This damning indictment of the social care system comes as the Care Bill returns to Parliament and is contained in a new policy paper issued by the University of Birmingham and Birmingham City Council, following an in-depth study of adult social care provision by local authorities across England. Professor Jon Glasby, Director of the Health Services Management Centre, and lead author of the report, said: "Local authorities across the country are struggling to meet their responsibilities in a very difficult financial and policy context. With higher levels of need, higher public expectations and widespread cuts, the previous approach to adult social care feels fundamentally unfit for purpose." The policy paper, entitled Turing the welfare state upside down? Developing a new adult social care offer calls for a new approach to adult social care. The report also calls for: Recognition that adult social care spending is a form of social and economic investment that helps people be active citizens, supports people to return to employment and can generate new businesses opportunities for local people A closer relationship with the NHS so that scarce public resources are used as effectively as possible and the needs of people with complex needs are met in full A closer relationship between local and national government so that both see themselves as partners when trying to resolve traditional dilemmas and develop new approaches.