Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt told first priority is reforming adult social care

A leading think tank has called on the next Prime Minister to make reforming the adult social care system their first priority as leader.

The King’s Fund has written an open letter to the two candidates battling it out to become the next Prime Minister.

It calls on the two candidates Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt to focus on three issues “to improve the nation’s health and the quality of health and care services”.

1. Funding and reforming adult social care

Richard Murray, chief executive of The King's Fund, highlighted in the letter that “more people are requesting publicly funded adult social care but fewer people are receiving it; waiting times for routine care are at levels not seen in a decade; and health inequalities are widening”.

Consequently, the first priority needs to be “reforming adult social care: fixing a system that many recognise is not fit for purpose and is at crisis point”.

“The system is failing the people who rely on it, with high levels of unmet need and providers struggling to deliver the quality of care that vulnerable people have a right to expect. These combine to place great pressures on families and carers,” he said.

Mr Murray called on the next Prime Minister to “rise to this challenge and demonstrate the leadership on this critical issue that previous governments have failed to provide”.

He admits that significant reform will take time and in the interim said: “If you wish to avoid these costs mounting further, the government will need to increase local authority funding in the next Spending Review.

“Public spending on adult social care has reduced considerably since 2010/11, forcing councils to reduce access to services. We must all recognise the value of social care as a vital service in its own right, which supports people to live well and independently, rather than as a pressure valve for the NHS.”

2. Embed health across government policy through bolder use of tax and regulation

Mr Murray also called on the next Prime Minister to make improving public health and prevention a much higher priority.

To do this, health needs to be embedded across government policy, through bolder use of tax and regulation to address public health challenges.

“The present government’s commitment to publish a prevention Green Paper provides an opportunity to set out a new direction but it needs to be bold and ambitious if it is to address the challenges to the nation’s health,” he added.

3. Giving health and care leaders political support making it easier to recruit from overseas

In addition, Mr Murray points out in his open letter that one in 10 of the total workforce in England works in the health and care sector, saying: “They are the system’s greatest asset and are key to delivering high-quality, compassionate care.”

Yet he said “they are working under enormous strain as services in the NHS, social care and the voluntary sector struggle to recruit, train and retain enough staff; analysis suggests current shortages of more than 100,000 staff across NHS trusts are set to increase unless action is taken.”

In the short term, the workforce shortfall is so severe that Mr Murray says: “it can only be managed by recruiting staff from overseas (including ethically recruiting 5,000 nurses a year)”.

To do this, the government needs to “support an immigration system that can meet the needs of health and social care, which should include accepting the recommendations of the Migration Advisory Committee to make it easier to recruit health and care staff”. In the longer term, to create a sustainable workforce more staff will need to be trained domestically, he added.

Aside from this, leaving the EU “is likely to have significant implications for health and social care”.

“Effective leadership is needed to tackle these challenges, without which the risk is that much-needed changes in health and care will stall. We look forward to working with the new government to ensure that this does not happen,” said Mr Murray.

To read the full open letter click here