Government budget allocations for 2015/16 imply social care budgets will fall by a further £470m adding to an already existing crisis in health and social care for elderly people, according to a new report by Age UK.
The findings in Health and Care for Older People 2015 present a picture of a health and care system for older people in England already under severe stress and underperforming, leading to higher costs, poorer health outcomes and a worse patient and service user experience.
Caroline Abrahams, Age UK director, says there is 'a destructive vicious circle' as inadequate access to high quality social care is progressively sapping the resilience both of NHS services and of older people who are at risk of poor health.
The numbers of elderly people, particularly those with long-term conditions, in the UK are steadily rising and funding for health and social care is, the report says, failing to keep pace.
Between 2005 and 2016 the number of people aged 65 or over in England increased by 18.8% (or by 1.5m people) with the biggest growth amongst the over 85s (up by 29.3%). The community-based services that these people depend upon that have been hit hard by cuts.
The report looks at the:
• Growing need for health and social care services;
• The rising numbers of people living with complex needs;
• Trends in funding, activity and the workforce across the health and social care system;
• Evidence of growing pressure and stress across the health and social care system;
• The degree to which health and social care services are effectively supporting people to stay well and independent.
Caroline Abrahams said: 'All the data in this report points in the same direction. The numbers of older people in England are steadily growing, and the proportion with long term conditions is growing faster still, but investment in health care overall is failing to keep pace and spending on social care has fallen quite spectacularly over the last five years.
‘Looking at all the trends in this report,’ she continued, ‘if an older person asked us today how confident we were that their health and care needs will be met well in the future we would be whistling in the dark if we gave a wholly reassuring answer.
'The Government has the power to change this through its forthcoming spending review and we sincerely hope they will.'
