Solving the staff shortage and underfunding problems affecting the social care system is essential for easing the pressure on the NHS, local authority leaders say.

A new report from the Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM) has revealed that 13,000 more staffed beds are required across the UK.

Beds in the NHS details that since 2010/2011 the NHS has lost almost 25,000 beds across the UK and warns that since then the health service and its staff have faced accumulating pressures.

Responding to the report, Cllr David Fothergill, chairman of the Local Government Association’s (LGA) Community Wellbeing Board, said that fixing the systemic problems within in the social care system was an important step in relieving the pressure the NHS is under.

‘Getting patients out of hospitals and back in their homes with the correct support, or into care facilities is crucial for alleviating pressure on NHS beds,’ he said.

‘With high vacancy levels in all areas of social care, the workforce doesn’t have the capacity to deliver what is currently required to get people where they need to be with an appropriate level of care.

‘The system is also suffering from long-term underfunding, and the situation continues to worsen with increasing unmet and under-met need.’

Cllr Fothergill continued: ‘A sustainable NHS depends on a sustainable social care system, as care and support is essential in its own right in supporting people of all ages to live their best life as well as alleviating pressure on the health service.

‘The LGA has been warning of the increasingly urgent need for sustainable funding and support for social care for some time and vital action is needed to improve this situation not just to free-up hospital beds, but to put social care on a sustainable footing, recruit and retain and increase the pay of staff and allow the sector to thrive.’