Care for elderly and disabled people could be in crisis unless the government spends an extra £700m a year on social services, a report has revealed today at the start of National Carers Week.
A one-year enquiry led by health thinktank, the Kings Fund, has concluded that immediate action involving government, the NHS, local authorities and private providers is needed to avoid a catastrophe.
Director of health and social care at the Kings Fund, Janice Robinson, said: "The findings show there is a looming crisis which will not only affect vulnerable people but has the potential to undermine the NHS plan."
The report, Future Imperfect?, looked at the quality of physical and emotional support available for adults who need help because of frailty, mental health problems, physical disabilities and other needs linked with drug and alcohol misuse and homelessness.
One of its main findings was that two-thirds of the 1m care workers hold no relevant qualifications. Ms Robinson said: "It is proving increasingly difficult to recruit good people and it is not surprising when the average wage is £5 an hour - they could earn more in Tesco's with far less stress."
The report recommends an urgent review of the NVQ system. "Care NVQs are the focus of considerable discontent," and it added that these must become "something that can be viewed as a sound and reliable indicator of competence".
Julia Unwin chaired the inquiry team that consisted of senior players in the health and welfare field including Clive Bowman, a physician at Bristol University, Cliff Prior, chief executive of the National Schizophrenia Fellowship and Rodney Bickerstaffe, president of the National Pensioners Convention.
Ms Unwin said: "We called for evidence from carers, practitioners and service users and our conclusion is that unless there is considerable investment in social care, the government will not be able to deliver its NHS plan."
The research showed that the residential care market is collapsing due to the rising costs of conforming to increasingly stringent standards. Ms Robinson said: "Residential care home owners in London and the south-east are selling up and using the buildings for other purposes. This sort of development will concentrate the minds - local authorities will have to start paying more to get services."
Even charities are pulling out of the market. Last week, Help the Aged announced it was to hand over its housing and care services to another as yet unnamed charity. Director general Mike Lake said: "Our portfolio of residential homes and housing is too small and too dispersed to meet the rising standards that residents will expect in the future."
Other key findings of the report include a tension between containing costs and promoting quality, management deficits and inconsistent regulation.
