An influential committee of cross-party MPs has launched an inquiry into the ‘cost of inaction’ on adult social care reform and wants to hear from nurses affected by insufficient changes to the sector.
Starting today, the first inquiry of the newly appointed Health and Social Care Committee will examine the impact of failing to properly reform adult social care and what this has meant for individuals, the NHS and local authorities.
It will also explore the cost of this to the Treasury and to the wider economy – such as when people reduce their hours while waiting for care or to become full-time unpaid carers for others.
The inquiry will be led by Layla Moran, Liberal Democratic MP and newly appointed chair of the committee.
Ms Moran told Nursing in Practice: ‘We want to talk to everybody. We want to talk to patients. We want to talk to their carers. We want to talk to healthcare professionals. We want to talk to the bodies that help to knit all of those facets together.
‘We are looking at the workforce as a whole. It would be nonsensical to not include the nurses who are part of that.’
She added: ‘What we want is this to be the year that is remembered as the year that the government and parliament tackled social care, and our committee really wants to be at the forefront of that conversation.’
Other committee members include Labour MP and former district nurse, Paulette Hamilton, who also sat on the previous committee following her initial election to parliament in 2022.
The Adult Social Care Reform: the cost of inaction inquiry will focus on social care older and working age adults.
The Committee is now accepting written submissions that respond to the following questions by 11 December 2024:
- How much is inaction on adult social care reform costing the NHS and local authorities, and what impact does this have on patients and the public?
- What NHS and local authority service reforms are not happening as a result of adult social care pressures, and what benefits are patients and the public missing out on?
- What is the cost of inaction to individuals and how might people’s lives change with action on adult social care reform?
- Where in the system is the cost of inaction on adult social care reform being borne the most?
- What contribution does adult social care make to the economy and HM Treasury and how might this change with action on reform?
- To what extent are the costs of inaction on adult social care reform considered by the government when evaluating policies, including within the Budget and Spending Reviews? How should these costs be assessed and evaluated?
It comes as an estimated 161,000 hours of homecare could not be delivered between January and March this year, due to insufficient staffing.
In September, Lord Ara Darzi’s report into the NHS found a lack of investment in community services and the nursing workforce had left the health service in a ‘critical condition’.
Last week, the Autumn Budget promised a £600m grant for social care, with one industry leader warning this fell ‘drastically short’ on addressing nursing needs.
