Funding should be prioritised for social services over NHS, health chief advises

Stephen Dorrell, chairman of the NHS Confederation and a former Conservative health secretary has called on the government to focus more money on improving social services.

Dorrell warned that ‘fetishing’ the NHS is damaging the health service because hospitals are used as an expensive way to look after the elderly. He argued that around £5 billion per year is needed to take councils back to the level of a decade ago and that such funding should be prevalent in next month’s autumn budget.

Research has shown that health spending has increased by 25 per cent over the past decade but social care spending has remained flat.

Dorrell said: “Fetishising the NHS budget and imagining it’s the only public service that relates to health is fundamentally to miss the point. It is not true to say we are supporting the health service by asking it to do social care. We are using the health service as a very expensive social care service and then talking about efficiency. It’s insane economics and very bad social policy.

“We would deliver a more efficient NHS and better health if we spent the money on supporting people out of the health service rather than waiting for them to become ill."

A spokeswoman for the Department of Health said: “This government is committed to making sure funding is used effectively right across the health economy. That’s why we are giving local authorities access to up to £3.5 billion extra for adult social care by 2020.”