The Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS) has set out a nine-point plan for reform of social care.
The report calls for a two-year funding settlement in 2020 that ensures the short-term sustainability and continuity of care.
Beyond that, ADASS calls for a “national conversation” that will shape a “new, person-centred vision” of adult social care, as well as a new deal for carers.
That, it said, will lay the foundation for a longer-term funding settlement “needed in 2022-23 for the next five-year period to embed the new approaches to care and support”.
“The prize is adult social care that is truly fit for the twenty-first century. We must design, shape and build that care and support together,” the report states.
ADASS president James Bullion (pictured) said ten years of reductions in funding has “stymied the excellent intentions of good legislation and everyone working in social care.”
“We must move away from models of care that eke out every penny, short care visits, care homes that are too big to be homes, outdated forms of care that keep people alive but don’t give them a life,” he added.
“Those who have care and support needs, carers, social care staff, think tanks, politicians from all parties, journalists, local government, the NHS, the public all know this has to change.”
Bullion continued: “The pandemic has already changed the way we experience care and support. Rather than simply reinforcing and protecting what we have, we have an opportunity to do something fundamentally different.”
