A 'Summary of Responses to the Call for Evidence' outlines the challenges faced by the care sector

The Dilnot Independent Commission has this month outlined its goals in its publication ‘Summary of Responses to the Call for Evidence’ and now has a final three months until its July deadline to finalise and plan a new direction to enable the care sector to achieve sustainable and long-term solutions for the unprecedented challenges of a rapidly ageing populace. The Summary, which takes on board months of feedback from care providers and associations, will serve as a blueprint for judging the success of the Commission’s methodology and its implementation.

The Summary lists a number of key points of consensus concerning what the sector needs to aspire and adapt to, including: the availability of partnership funding models; better service integration and joined-up working; closer working with families to encourage future planning; more effective funding for people of a working age who have or develop care needs; a national framework of assessment that overcomes local disparities; and a higher performing level of early intervention that can prevent healthcare needs escalating needlessly and becoming more costly as a result.

The Commission makes a firm acknowledgement that its role is to set clear ground for improvements to care services, not just to enable the funding of them, though stresses that commitments to ‘choice and personalisation’ are not one of its specific concerns. Potential grey areas were also referenced, with integration being one goal that, if done poorly, can lead to an ineffective use of resources if ‘perverse incentives’ are allowed to take over, while the Commission also warns that technological advances, where embraced, should not become the substitute of expertise.

It had already been apparent from previous press releases that the Commission does not consider the plight of the UK’s ‘sandwich generation’, meaning that the burden of care becomes the sole responsibility of subsequent generations, to be an appropriate solution in answering the country’s ageing demographic issues; a perspective that surveys show elderly people largely agreeing with. The Summary furthers this by reporting on ‘considerable support for a partnership model where both the state and individual [pay] a contribution’, while strong consideration is also being given to a form of taxation or compulsory social insurance contributions.

There is as yet no guarantee, however, that the Government will not look to steer any financial solution away from what it considers to be unpopular policy. Having so far looked to pay off the structural deficit entirely through public sector cuts, without having imposed any extra taxation, the pursuit of a new tax or insurance might demand some steely resolve on the Coalition’s part, coming at what is already a challenging time politically and with both the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats showing hits to their poll ratings.

A further complication that widespread elderly care provision will have to overcome is the likelihood of stepping on the feet of both NHS services and the role of Local Authorities, whose amenability to the Commission’s new direction will be crucial in implementing any new measures successfully, both of whom may be more concerned in protecting their own budget.

The extent of the Dilnot challenge, however, does not stop at Government and healthcare organisations, but will be required to navigate a sea of financial services, upon whom future care provision is destined to depend, while treading even murkier waters in the capability of the general public to educate itself and prepare for the likelihood of care dependency.

The Summary can be read in full at the following link: www.dilnotcommission.dh.gov.uk/files/2011/04/Response-to-the-Call-for-Evidence-for-Commissione.pdf and our News pages will be keeping an eye on any significant developments.