The National Care Forum has responded to the publication of the Care Quality Commission’s report on the state of health care and adult social care in England for 2023/24.
This year’s report builds on the picture from last year about the state of the health and social care system, with people struggling to access basic health and care services . The report draws attention to growing inequalities in care provision, with particular areas of concern including the quality of mental health services, the experiences and poor outcomes for autistic people and people with learning disabilities, the struggle of children and young people accessing any services in a timely way, and workforce shortages.
NCF CEO Vic Rayner said: “This year’s CQC report, like so many others, highlights the real impact on people when social care is underfunded and under resourced.
“If the government is serious about a three-fold shift from hospitals to community, sickness to prevention and analogue to digital, it must invest properly in the community services that people need to live well, including adult social care. When resourced and organised properly, adult social care enables people to live the lives they want, supports them to access wider community and health services at an earlier stage and helps them retain their independence for longer in strong communities – this ultimately reduces demand on acute services.
“Investment in the care and support workforce will be critical for this, and we again urge the government to adopt the workforce strategy for adult social care facilitated by Skills for Care and developed in collaboration with a wide range of organisations and people with a stake in the future of care services.
“Finally, the report makes no reference to the sharp focus that there has been on the CQC’s regulatory function itself. There is no mention of Dr Dash’s review, Professor Sir Mike Richard’s review of the Single Assessment Framework or the work being undertaken by the Care Provider Alliance to understand the care provider perspective on assessment. Clearly, a well-functioning regulator and framework for assessment is one of the requirements for a well-organised and resourced health and social care system. There is much work to be done to achieve this.”
