Labour’s delayed social care reforms ‘will cost lives’ of elderly people and batter the economy as Government is accused of ‘kicking the can down the road’

Delays to social care reform are ‘costing lives’ and battering the economy, the President of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine has warned.

Ministers announced the launch of an independent commission this week, chaired by Baroness Casey, which will begin work in April but is not due to publish its final report for three years.

Charities, MPs and social care campaigners suggested the government had ‘kicked the can down the road’ and now fear that the timescale of reforms could be even later than 2028.

The Royal College’s Dr Adrian Boyle blasted the delays as ‘very frustrating’ and warned patients were ‘stuck in hospital’ due to inadequate social care arrangements.

 He told Times Radio: ‘The question is how much is it going to cost and where are we going to find the money? 

And that seems like an awfully long time to try and wait for an answer, which is a fairly simple but big question. We’ve had lots of reports before and we haven’t implemented them.

‘What I’m seeing is that patients are being harmed because of delays. 

‘The lack of good social care means that some people are coming to hospital when they don’t need to, but also at the other end, people are getting stuck in hospital, which is not good for them after their acute illness has been treated.

‘It’s not just costing lives, it’s also costing our economy a lot. Looking after an older person who’s ready for discharge in hospital is a really inefficient way to look after them. 

‘Hospitals are designed to look after acute problems, not chronic problems. Patients get more and more dependent the longer they spend in hospital. It’s a very expensive way to deliver not great care.

Last year, a report into the NHS from Lord Darzi, commissioned by Health Secretary Wes Streeting, described the state of social care in the UK as ‘dire’. 

Both Labour and Conservative governments have previously pledged to get a grip on social care funding to best serve the nation’s ageing population, but have rejected or deferred major proposals due to financial pressures.

Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey said last night: ‘We can’t afford to wait three more years for a new plan. We’re really worried that what’s been announced looks like an excuse to kick the can down the road for another decade.

‘I’d like to see this review done and dusted within a year at the most. Then we can finally move on with implementing much-needed reforms.’

The commission’s first phase, which will report by 2026, will identify critical issues and recommend medium-term improvements. 

It is only the second phase of the report which will make recommendations about how to organise care services – but that will not be available until 2028.

Labour have been accused of failing to act quickly enough, with this announcement coming six months after they were elected.

One of their first acts in government was to scrap plans for a lifetime cap of £86,000 on care costs from October – a move Sir Andrew Dilnot, the architect of the reforms, branded a ‘tragedy’.

But ministers rejected claims they were delaying reforms. Care Minister Andrew Gwynne told LBC: ‘That cynicism would be fair if we hadn’t already hit the ground running in terms of transforming our health and social care systems from day one.’

Health Secretary Wes Streeting, who was at Burnrigg Court residential home in Carlisle where he was speaking about the government’s social care plans, said the government is ‘already acting’ and had ‘done a lot in the first six months’ on social care.