East Devon MP Sir Hugo Swire has this week called on the Government to provide extra funding for social care in East Devon.
In the House of Commons on Tuesday, Sir Hugo quizzed Health Minister David Mowat on the subject, asking:
‘Northern, Eastern and Western Devon clinical commissioning group is already consulting on the possible closure of community beds across Devon. The social care budget in East Devon, an area of elderly people, and the rest of the county is already under severe pressure. That pressure will inevitably increase if community beds are closed. Will the Secretary of State therefore commit to putting those points to the Chancellor of the Exchequer in the run-up to the autumn statement?’
In his response the Minister explained that whilst he was unable to provide a ‘running commentary’ on discussions with the Treasury, he had taken Sir Hugo’s comments on board.
The East Devon MP also wrote to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Philip Hammond, this week on the issue of social care budgets. In his letter to the Chancellor, Sir Hugo said:
‘The NEW Devon Clinical Commissioning Group has recently published proposals to close a number of beds across East Devon. I am not against a reconfiguration of our local NHS per se – few could dispute the fact that a great number of people, and especially elderly people, could avoid having to be admitted to hospital if effective preventative treatment were given. When sufficient preventative treatment is not in place however, our community hospitals are often used as a very expensive social care service. Indeed, it is undeniable that the hospital bed provision is expensive – the Lead Chief Executive of Devon’s Success Regime, Angela Pedder, has said that the cost of running a 16-bed community hospital ward is £75,000 per month but care at home could look after 82 people per month for the same money.
‘However, I am concerned that we are putting the cart before the horse. Before removing the hospital beds, we need to ensure that the social care provision which prevents people from needing those beds in the first place is sufficient. As it stands at the moment, with council budgets for social care falling behind demand by £5 billion nationally, I am concerned that the loss of hospital beds will not be compensated by the social care system, resulting in an overall and unacceptable loss of healthcare provision. This would be particularly damaging in East Devon, where 27.7% of people are aged 65 or over compared to 17.7% nationally.
‘In my opinion, the only answer to this complex issue is an increase in the social care budget which would not only be good for patients but, ultimately, reduce the pressure on the NHS budget. I would be grateful if you could seriously consider this matter prior to the Autumn Statement’.