Source · Select Committees · Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee
Recommendation 26
26
Accepted
The Minister for Care and Mental Health asserted that the chapter on the workforce in...
Recommendation
The Minister for Care and Mental Health asserted that the chapter on the workforce in the People at the Heart of Care White Paper is the Government’s social care workforce strategy, but the number of further calls for a social care workforce strategy that have been made since the White Paper’s publication clearly indicates that the contents of that chapter do not amount to a strategy, or are not what the sector expected to see from one. The Government should publish a 10-year strategy for the adult social care workforce. It should develop the strategy in collaboration with care workers, providers, local government, the NHS, unpaid carers, and people receiving care. The strategy should not just be a wish-list but needs to be a clear roadmap with core milestones, outcomes, and measures of success. We agree with the Government that retention should be a key performance indicator, but it is important that measures of success also include opportunities for progression, reduced prevalence of zero-hour contracts, and whether care workers feel valued for the highly skilled nature of their work. (Paragraph 117) 78 Long-term funding of adult social care
Government Response Summary
The government agrees that ensuring there is holistic care that fits around people’s needs includes ensuring that people receive the right care and support, and can maintain healthy independent living, beginning with where they live, and the people they live with.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
The government agrees that ensuring there is holistic care that fits around people’s needs includes ensuring that people receive the right care and support, and can maintain healthy independent living, beginning with where they live, and the people they live with. Getting these housing arrangements right for individuals and communities is one example that requires the joining up of not just health and care partners, but a wider set of local government functions and housing providers. We want people to have choice over their housing arrangements, and we also want to ensure places ‘think housing and community’ when they develop local partnerships and plan and deliver health and care services. We already see an example of this within the devolved Greater Manchester Health and Social Care Partnership where Bury Council brings together the governance of health and social care. This includes pooled budgets, and strategic commissioning across adult social care and health including housing, public health, drug and alcohol services, and children’s social care, allowing for joint workforce planning and commissioning of services to meet needs in a holistic way. We also recognise that for those who draw on care and support, the right housing arrangements can be critical to supporting independent living outside of residential and institutional settings. We have published guidance on the preparation of integrated care strategies which encourages integrated care partnerships to explore the opportunities by having a joined-up approach to the planning, commissioning and delivery of housing and services related to housing, when setting out how they will meet assessed needs. Our Integrated Care Strategy guidance published in July 2022 sets out that the development of integrated care strategies should explore the opportunities of having a joined-up 36 Government response approach to the planning, commission and delivery of housing and services related to housing, when setting out how they will meet assessed needs set out in joint strategic needs assessments. Additionally, in November 2022, the government published finalised guidance on how Health and Wellbeing Boards should work with system partners to create a joined up approach across place and system level. This guidance encourages joint strategic needs assessments (JSNAs) to look at wider issues that affect health, such as housing or risk of homelessness, employment, education, crime, community safety, transport or planning. Conclusion 35 – shared care records Conclusion 35 - Barriers to data-sharing between health and social care have been a long-standing challenge, so we particularly welcome the Government’s ambition to have shared care records for all citizens by 2024. It is vital that this ambition becomes a reality.