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LETTER SECRETARY OF STATE FOR HEALTH
CONCERNING THE COMMISSIONING OF
SOCIAL CARE FOR OLDER PEOPLE
28 June 2000
The Rt Hon Alan Milburn MP,
Secretary of State,
Department of Health,
Richmond House,
Whitehall,
LONDON SW1A 2NS
Dear Secretary of State,
I am writing on behalf of Social Services North West to express our concern about the proposal for Primary Care
Trusts to become responsible for commissioning both health and social care services for older people. Your speech
to the New Health Network on 6 June 2000 anticipated that the National Plan for the NHS might address this issue.
Social Services North West (formerly known as NWASSA - the North West Association of Social Services Authorities)
is the member-level body which represents the local authorities in the North West of England which have responsibility
for the personal social services. We work with our members and others to promote high quality services in the North
West.
We understand the Government's concern to ensure that the NHS responds to the nation's aspirations for high quality
health services for the 21st century. Local social services authorities have a vital role to play in arranging
and providing social care services for those whose illness or disability requires more or different support than
the NHS itself can provide. Crucially, because we are rooted in local government, we can make the link for individuals
into the wider network of local services provided by other statutory, voluntary and community organisations.
We were therefore very concerned indeed to note the proposal of the NHS Confederation (apparently finding some
favour with the Government) that the commissioning of both health and social care for older people should become
the responsibility of the new Primary Care Trusts. We believe this would be a serious mistake, which would hamper
further progress in the development of comprehensive, high quality services for older people.
Local authority social services are getting better and better, as extensive monitoring by the Social Services Inspectorate,
the Audit Commission and others are revealing. A key aspect of this improvement is the ever-closer partnership
with the NHS. To take only one example, the efforts we made with our NHS partners to ensure continuity of health
and social care services through the long millenium holiday were praised by Government and held up as the model
for the future - health and social care services working together to provide a seamless service to those in need.
The last thing which older people need is for this process of continuous improvement to be disrupted by organisational
change which will take the focus away from those we are here to serve. If social care commissioning is taken from
the local authorities and given to the NHS, that might appear to remove some barriers but would certainly create
others. Links to such vital services as housing, recreation and transport would be prejudiced.
Organisational tinkering with the NHS and local authorities is not the way forward. The NHS must be free to complete
its transformation into a primary care-led organisation. Local authorities will work ever more closely with their
NHS partners to achieve integrated services for all who need them. We hope and believe that your experience shows
the value of such joint working, and the steady improvements which have resulted. The new Health Act already gives
all the statutory powers necessary for creative joint working between services to develop and flourish in response
to local need.
We urge you therefore to continue on the path of service improvement rather than bureaucratic shuffling. I am sure
you are as anxious as we are that future changes should help rather than hinder the development of comprehensive
high-quality services for older people.
I am writing today in similar terms to the 61 MPs whose constituencies lie within the area of our 19 member authorities.
If you would like more information about Social Services North West, please do not hesitate to contact me through
our office address below.
Yours sincerely,
Councillor Cliff Morris
Chair, Social Services North West
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