A briefing paper examined the systems in existence within the National Health Service for allocating resources to different units and services.
Source: Health Resource Allocation, National Audit Office
Links: Paper
Date: 2010-Dec
A government-appointed commission on the funding of social care and support published a call for evidence.
Source: Commission on Funding of Care and Support, Call for Evidence on the Future Funding of Care and Support, Department of Health
Links: Call for evidence
Date: 2010-Dec
A report by a committee of MPs said that health and social care services would need to make efficiency gains on an 'unprecedented scale' if levels of service were to be maintained and improved. Local councils had not been provided with the necessary resources to sustain existing eligibility levels for social care, and would need to sustain further efficiency savings of up to 3.5 per cent per annum in order to do so: but the government had not provided a 'clear enough narrative' on its vision of how these savings were to be made.
Source: Public Expenditure, Second Report (Session 2010-11), HC 512, House of Commons Health Select Committee/TSO
Links: Report | Labour Party press release | ADASS press release | Kings Fund press release | LGA press release | NHS Confederation press release | Patients Association press release | 2020Health press release | Unite press release | BBC report | Public Finance report | Community Care report | Guardian report | Telegraph report | Morning Star report
Date: 2010-Dec
An audit report said that National Health Service trusts could make savings through cutting staffing costs, increasing day surgery, and reducing emergency admissions. But wider changes would be needed if the NHS were to save £15-20 billion by 2014.
Source: More for Less 2009/10: Are efficiency and productivity improving in the NHS?, Audit Commission
Links: Report | Audit Commission press release | Public Finance report
Date: 2010-Dec
The coalition government announced (in its 2010 Spending Review) that an extra £1 billion per year (by the end of the period) would be found within the National Health Service budget to fund social care services that overlapped with NHS services, such as rehabilitation care after discharge from hospital. But the funding was not 'ring-fenced': local authorities would take decisions about its allocation.
Source: Spending Review 2010, Cm 7942, HM Treasury/TSO
Links: Report | Summary | Hansard | HMT press releases | Letter to directors of adult social services | ADASS press release | ADCS press release | Alzheimers Society press release | Carers UK press release | EDCM press release | Kings Fund press release | Mencap press release | Mind press release | PwC press release | RNHA press release | SCIE press release | Turning Point press release | UKHCA press release | United Response press release | Community Care report | Guardian report
Date: 2010-Oct
A paper said that the conjunction of the government's Spending Review (October 2010), the report of the Commission on Funding of Care and Support (due in December 2010), and Law Commission recommendations on a new social care statute (due in April 2011) created the possibility of a permanent settlement for funding the social care system. The big question was whether the proposed funding settlement and statute would be aligned with each other and with a vision for social care that was designed around people's lives, rather than around services.
Source: Emma Stone and Claudia Wood, A Funding Settlement that Works for People, Not Services, Joseph Rowntree Foundation
Links: Paper
Date: 2010-Oct