MPs call for an effective plan to join up health and social care – Alzheimer’s Society Comment
The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has today called on the Government to put forward an overall strategy to integrate the health and social care system and alleviate the financial pressures on local authorities that are leaving them with ‘no realistic prospect of progress.’
Despite widespread agreement that a joined up system would work best in light of the country’s ageing population, no overall plan on how to achieve this has been put forward.
Sally Copley, Director of Policy, Campaigns and Partnerships at Alzheimer’s Society, said: “Alzheimer’s Society’s Fix Dementia Care campaign has been calling on the Government to create a joined up health and social care system that can deliver high quality care, because time and time again we see people with dementia falling through the cracks.
“Our hospital admissions investigation revealed that last year 50,000 people with dementia were blue-lighted to hospital for avoidable conditions – like infections – due to inadequate care in the community. This is resulting in people getting stuck in hospital, well enough to leave, costing over £3m a week or the equivalent of 36 hospitals a day out of action.
“This is not sustainable. We wholeheartedly support the MPs calling for a joined-up system. The imminent Budget is an opportunity for meaningful investment to put this to rights as, otherwise, integration is a distant pipedream for people living with dementia.”
