Social care is at 'tipping point' due to government cuts, says Liz McInnes

Liz McInnes, Labour Member of Parliament for Heywood and Middleton

Liz McInnes, MP for Heywood and Middleton, has demanded that the government take urgent action to protect social care services as local councils – responsible for providing social care in our communities – face further drastic cuts in government funding.

Speaking in parliament last Wednesday (16 November) in a debate about social care secured by Barbara Keeley, Labour MP for Worsley and Eccles South and Shadow Minister for Social Care, Ms McInnes highlighted the severe cuts Rochdale Borough Council has suffered and warned that worse is to come as Theresa May’s government look set to continue to work begun by David Cameron and George Osborne.

Ms McInnes said: "Across the UK, local government funding has been reduced by 37% in real terms between 2010 and 2016, and the Local Government Association has estimated that councils’ overall funding gap will amount to £5.8 billion by 2020.

"In my constituency of Heywood and Middleton we have been hit hard. Rochdale Council has had to make huge government cuts of £200 million in the past six years. Social care budgets face even more pressure in the next two years, as the council is forced to save a further £40 million. The social care precept of 2% on council tax this year will raise only about £1.4 million, which is a drop in the ocean of Rochdale’s total adult social care budget of £80 million.

"Inevitably, there have been serious consequences as a result of this underfunding. Our hospitals and A&E departments report a 70% increase in bed-blocking. They identify the cause as the fact that social care is not available to allow patients to be discharged safely. The figure was 108,000 in April 2012, but it was a staggering 184,000 this July. Bed occupancy rates exceeded 91% during January to March 2016, which is the highest quarterly rate in the past six years.

"These figures serve to emphasise that cuts to social care services have had an inevitable knock-on effect on the NHS, heightening the bed-blocking problem, as patients are forced to stay in hospital for longer because they are unable to get the support that they need at home. By properly funding adult social care, we could remove the burden from our hospitals, so that they could carry on the important acute work for which their services are intended.

"Those cuts to council services have severely taken their toll on the health and social care provision that millions of people rely on. That now presents an immediate risk to those patients and providers. Councils face a £1.9 billion funding gap in adult social care. We are at what the Care Quality Commission has said is 'a tipping point', and the government need to act now to protect local government funding and the essential services Rochdale Council and all local authorities provide."