{"id":5084,"date":"2024-01-16T16:24:35","date_gmt":"2024-01-16T16:24:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/integratedcarejournal.com\/?p=5084"},"modified":"2024-02-05T14:54:11","modified_gmt":"2024-02-05T14:54:11","slug":"social-care-system-sustained-crisis-despite-record-investment-report-finds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/integratedcarejournal.com\/social-care-system-sustained-crisis-despite-record-investment-report-finds\/","title":{"rendered":"Social care system in sustained crisis despite ‘record’ investment, report finds"},"content":{"rendered":"

Unsustainable financial and workforce pressures are forcing adult social care providers to turn down new admissions and close services, as government grants are not reaching the people who need them most, according to a new report commissioned by Care England<\/a> and the learning disability charity, Hft<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Based on a large-scale survey of adult social care providers, the 2023 Sector Pulse Check<\/a> report finds that despite the sector receiving a \u00a37.5bn funding boost in Chancellor Jeremy Hunt\u2019s 2022 Autumn Statement, there has been little progress in the key challenges facing social care.<\/p>\n

In a statement, Care England described the current social care environment as \u201carguably more perilous than ever.\u201d<\/p>\n

Professor Martin Green OBE, Chief Executive of Care England, commented: \u201cThe narrative that social care is under pressure is not a new one. What\u2019s disappointing is that we find ourselves in a worsening crisis amid the Government\u2019s narrative of \u2018record investment\u2019 into the sector.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile the Government did make substantial commitments in the 2022 Autumn Budget, the outcomes have not matched the ambition. The new money into the sector has not led to tangible change or any significant progress towards \u2018fixing adult social care\u2019.<\/p>\n

The report highlights how headwinds facing the social care sector include rapid and dramatic energy cost increases and unfunded rises in the National Living Wage, which contributed to 40 per cent of adult social care providers ending 2023 in deficit, the report says.<\/p>\n

Recent funding initiatives from the government, such as the Market Sustainability and Improvement Fund and the International Recruitment Fund, have failed to mitigate funding concerns for the majority of providers, the report states; 84 per cent of care providers surveyed said that these measures made no difference to their organisation\u2019s overall financial sustainability over the past year.<\/p>\n

This has resulted in a reduced capacity for the sector to deliver care across providers, and the report finds that:<\/p>\n