MPs say social care must be part of recovery plan as NHS waiting list hits record levels

MPs are calling for a broader national health and care recovery plan by April 2022, that as well as fixing the NHS backlog, also encompasses emergency care, mental health, primary care, community care and social care, saying ‘without the right support for social care, a recovery plan for the NHS is doomed to failure’.

The NHS waiting list in England is at its highest level since records began with 5.8m waiting for planned care.

The Health and Social Care Select Committee has published its report into clearing the NHS backlog after the pandemic led to most routine care being postponed or cancelled.

MPs found the government’s refusal to regularly independently assess workforce numbers will affect recovery as ‘without it, it will remain impossible to know whether enough doctors, nurses or care staff are being trained’.

'During our inquiry, we heard many times that workforce shortages were the “key limiting factor” on success in tackling the backlog,' according to the report.

They warned that social care should not be overlooked, saying ‘We have heard much about how a robust social care system that can support hospital discharges and free up capacity is essential to clear the backlog’.

Despite this, social care ‘did not receive an adequate settlement in the spending review, with the £5.4 billion over three years falling well short of the £7 billion annual increase we have previously recommended’, said MPs.

Health and Social Care Committee Chair Rt Hon Jeremy Hunt MP said: “The NHS faces an unquantifiable challenge in tackling a backlog of cases caused by the pandemic, with 5.8 million patients waiting for planned care and estimates that the figure could double by 2025.

“However, our Report finds that the government’s recovery plans risk being thrown off course by an entirely predictable staffing crisis. The current wave of Omicron is exacerbating the problem, but we already had a serious staffing crisis, with a burnt-out workforce, 93,000 NHS vacancies and no sign of any plan to address this.”

He added: “Far from tackling the backlog, the NHS will be able to deliver little more than day to day firefighting unless the government wakes up to the scale of the staffing crisis facing the NHS, and urgently develops a long-term plan to fix the issue.”

'We remain very concerned that social care will remain the poor relation'

MPs flagged in the report that even after the spending review period, there is no guarantee of additional funding from the Health and Social Care Levy, ‘so we remain very concerned that social care will remain the poor relation’. The government was praised for publishing its White Paper for social care on 1 December but MPs said this ‘does not acknowledge the scale of resource needed if the sector is to recover from the crisis it faces right now’.

The Committee wants the government to publish a ten-year plan for social care, setting out in more detail how it will operationalise the ambitions it has now set out.

The Report concludes that tackling the wider backlog caused by the pandemic is a major and ‘unquantifiable’ challenge.

Siva Anandaciva, chief analyst at The King’s Fund, called it a ‘helpful report’ and said ‘the full scale of care backlogs isn’t limited to hospital services and includes general practice and people waiting for mental health, ambulance and community care. Social care also continues to face pressures across the board.

‘Government pledges for more funding and new initiatives, such as increasing NHS diagnostic capacity, will play an important role in recovery, but staff shortages that were endemic before the pandemic have left staff and services depleted.

‘The government has provided more funding for health and care services but has so far failed to deliver a national plan to fundamentally address the workforce crisis. Without this plan, efforts to recover services and tackle rising backlogs will be hamstrung and patients will be left waiting longer for the care they need.’