Speakers:
Rt Hon Andy Burnham MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Health
Rt Hon Stephen Dorrell MP, Chair, Health Select Committee
Chair:
Ian Mulheirn – Director, Social Market Foundation
Wednesday 10 July 2013, 6:00-7:00pm
Registration and light refreshments from 5:15pm
British Academy, 10-11 Carlton House Terrace, London SW1Y 5AH
Public services will have to find unprecedented savings every year up to at least 2018 as part of the Government’s efforts to fix the hole in the public finances. The National Health Service faces a projected budget shortfall of between £28bn and £34bn by 2021-22, the result of rising demand and a stagnant budget. Social care also faces major pressures as local authorities attempt to find additional savings. Currently, health and social care represent separately-funded functions that operate in very different accountability frameworks. This fragmentation is often criticised and can lead to a range of problems: avoidable admissions; increased costs for the NHS; little focus on preventative care; and confusion for service users.
Since 2010, the Coalition Government has undertaken a number of reforms to bring health and social care closer together and has recently published its vision for integrated care by 2018. But critics argue that current reforms are unlikely to make that vision a reality. In this context, Shadow Health Secretary Andy Burnham has called for a major reform of health and social care, with a shift towards integration and ‘Whole-Person Care’, in order to release savings and improve service quality. Meanwhile Stephen Dorrell’s Health Select Committee has advocated the integration of health and social care, and also the creation of ring-fenced budgets for care services.
This unique cross-party event will see Andy Burnham MP and Stephen Dorrell MP debate the case for the integration of health and social care, discuss the practicalities of achieving it, and assess how policy makers can overcome the barriers that have thwarted such efforts in the past.
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This event is kindly supported by Just Retirement.