Health and Social Care: Falls Prevention

Baroness Altmann Excerpts

Thursday 30th November 2017 Lords Chamber

[Lord O’Shaughnessy]

I do not have the specific details that the noble Baroness has asked for; I will write to her. The figures are not good; there are still around a quarter of a million falls in hospitals and mental health trusts each year, which is equivalent to the emergency admissions, so it is still a significant problem. NHS Improvement is working with the poorest-performing trusts and is reporting that those interventions have seen improvements, but we clearly need to phase out some of the poor practice that exists in order to reach higher standards.

[Baroness Altmann (Con)]

My Lords, does my noble friend accept that the social care system is in crisis? As council budgets are squeezed and the number of elderly people keeps rising, councils have had to withdraw preventive spending on such things as handrails, home adaptations and meals on wheels. This may save money in the short term—the focus on those with extreme need is understandable—but will my noble friend please relay concerns from these Benches back to the department that there has been insufficient urgency in adopting a long-term, strategic approach and introducing meaningful reforms rather than a sticking plaster on this ever-growing problem, which will result in more frail, elderly people costing more money to the NHS?

NHS: Sustainability and Transformation Plans

Baroness Altmann Excerpts

Monday 20th March 2017 Lords Chamber

[Lord O'Shaughnessy]

The noble Countess is right. Additional funding in the Budget will mean that local authorities and the NHS have more resources to account for things such as travel costs and unit care costs for care workers. Some of the STPs are dealing with urban areas and some with more rural areas. All the plans within those configurations have to take account of public engagement. As I have said, there cannot be changes without meeting the reconfiguration tests that we have set out, which must account for local circumstances.

[Baroness Altmann (Con)]

My Lords, can my noble friend assure the House that the reviews of social care will include looking at the impact of the withdrawal by councils of help for those with moderate needs in order to focus social care on those with substantial needs? Has the emergency admission of elderly people who were not given the care that they might have needed had an impact on A&E services in certain areas? Further, will the demographics of ageing populations be taken into account when looking at the closure of A&E departments?

[Lord O’Shaughnessy]

My noble friend is quite right to bring the attention of the House to the effect of standards. The Care Act 2014 introduced for the first time national standards as well as much greater transparency in the provision of care. What the announcement in the Budget of additional funding for social care allows for is particularly a focus on the interface between the NHS and social care, which is where the issue of delayed transfers can arise. I can provide my noble friend with a reassurance that the Green Paper will be looking at this issue in the round, carrying on from the work done in the Budget to try to address the interface between the social care and health systems.