Full Story in The Guardian 12 March 2018
The NHS could be plunged into a year-round crisis because of a lack of social care provision, the head of one of England’s biggest councils has warned.
The comments by Andrew Travers, the chief executive of Lambeth council in south London, were made as the chancellor, Philip Hammond, faces pressure to address funding shortages in his spring statement. They follow a warning by the Local Government Association (LGA) that a “tipping point” for adult social care was fast approaching and that inaction from ministers was no longer an option.
Labour said a £6.3bn in adult social care funding had been lost since 2010. Vince Cable, the Liberal Democrat leader, said the sector faced “a very critical situation”.
Travers said that without a long-term solution to funding social care, “it wouldn’t just be a winter NHS crisis – you might see it in the spring, and the autumn”.