Responding to the Care Quality Commission’s latest State of Care Report, The state of health care and adult social care in England 2023/24, Nuffield Trust Deputy Director of Policy Natasha Curry said:
“The latest CQC State of Care report clearly amplifies persistent stark figures and warnings about failing services and unequal access to health and social care. From social care provision, to children and young people’s health services, to maternity, dementia and dentistry – it shows access and standards of care are just not keeping up with need.
“The new government has promised it will succeed where others have failed in bringing reform to social care. If they can achieve this, it could help hundreds of thousands of people who draw on care, carers, and staff who work in the sector. But we haven’t seen any detail yet on how they will deliver the promised new National Care Service and bring about long-term reform, or even how they plan to sustain the system in the short term, particularly given the worrying state of council finances.
“Meanwhile, the health system is constantly at breaking point, and we know it does not even have enough funding to keep up with basic day-to-day demand: our new analysis published today shows that the NHS in England is on course to overspend by £4.8bn this financial year.
“Year-on-year we’ve seen sticking plaster cash injections fail to heal our ailing health and social care services. While longer-term funding settlements are to come next year, next week’s Budget needs to send a clear message that the government is serious about supporting and improving the long-term health and care of the nation.”
Notes to editors
- The Nuffield Trust is an independent health think tank. We aim to improve the quality of health care in the UK by providing evidence-based research and policy analysis and informing and generating debate www.nuffieldtrust.org.uk
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