Delays to welfare reform are “costing lives” and hitting the economy, the president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine has warned.
Ministers this week announced the launch of an independent commission, chaired by Baroness Casey, which will begin work in April but will not publish its final report for three years.
Charities, MPs and social care campaigners suggested the government had “knocked the can down the road” and now fear the timetable for reforms could be even later than 2028.
Dr Adrian Boyle, of the Royal College, called the delays “very frustrating” and warned patients were “trapped in hospital” due to inadequate social care arrangements.
He told Times Radio: ‘The question is how much is it going to cost and where are we going to find the money?
And it seems like a really long time to try and wait for an answer, which is a pretty simple but important question. We have received many reports before and we have not implemented them.
‘What I see is that patients are harmed by delays.
Delays to welfare reform are “costing lives” and hitting the economy, the president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine has warned. Pictured: Wes Streeting speaking to staff and residents during a visit to Burnrigg Court care home in Carlisle.
Streeting spoke to staff and residents as part of a welfare announcement. Ministers this week announced the launch of an independent commission, chaired by Baroness Casey, which will begin work in April but will not publish its final report for three years.
“The lack of good social care means that some people come to hospital when they don’t need it, but also, at the other extreme, people are stuck in hospital, which is not good for them after their acute illness ends.” has been treated.” .
‘Not only is it costing lives, it is also costing our economy a lot. Caring for an elderly person who is ready to be discharged from the hospital is a really inefficient way to care for them.
‘Hospitals are designed to deal with acute problems, not chronic problems. Patients become increasingly dependent the longer they spend in the hospital. It is a very expensive way to provide not very good care.
Last year, an NHS report by Lord Darzi, commissioned by Health Secretary Wes Streeting, described the state of social care in the UK as “dire”.
Both the Labor and Conservative governments have previously pledged to rein in welfare funding to better serve the country’s aging population, but have rejected or postponed major proposals due to financial pressures.
Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey said last night: “We cannot afford to wait three more years for a new plan.” We are really concerned that what has been announced seems like an excuse to postpone the situation for another decade.
‘I would like to see this review done and dusted within a year at most. “Then we can finally move forward with implementing much-needed reforms.”
Charities, MPs and social care campaigners suggested the government had “knocked the can down the road” and now fear the reform timetable could be even later than 2028.
The commission’s first phase, reporting in 2026, will identify critical issues and recommend medium-term improvements.
It is only the second phase of the report that will make recommendations on how to organize care services, but it will not be available until 2028.
Labor has been accused of not acting quickly enough, with this announcement coming six months after its election.
One of his first actions in government was to scrap plans to set an £86,000 lifetime cap on care costs from October, a move Sir Andrew Dilnot, the architect of the reforms, called a “tragedy”.
But ministers rejected claims they were delaying reforms. Health Care Minister Andrew Gwynne told LBC: “Such cynicism would be fair if we had not already started transforming our health and social care systems from day one.”
Health Secretary Wes Streeting, who was at Burnrigg Court care home in Carlisle where he was discussing the government’s social care plans, said the government was “already acting” and had “done a lot in the first six months.” “in matters of social care.