Independent Age response to Independent Commission report, One person, one team, one system, on whole-person care for the Labour Party

Independent Age response to Independent Commission report, One person, one team, one system, on whole-person care for the Labour Party

Independent Age Director of Policy and External Relations, Simon Bottery, said:

“While we welcome many of the findings of the Independent Commission on Whole Person Care for the Labour Party, we are concerned that its proposals would not be confirmed and implemented until 2020. This is far too late for a social care system that is already failing, even with the Commission’s proposed £10bn of extra funding to strengthen community health and social care services.

“We are also disappointed that the Commission has little to say about the importance to health and care of housing - and nothing to say about the importance of the benefits system, in particular the older people’s disability benefit, Attendance Allowance. Without greater emphasis on housing and benefits, the proposals risk being ‘one person, one team, half a system’.

“The argument that the Commission makes for integration of health and care services is now widely accepted and we particularly welcome the recommendations to:

• Provide a single individual to act as advocate for each person with complex needs

• Improve the quality of information provided to people

• Adopt a preventative approach to improving older people’s health

“However we are disappointed that the Commission says little about the importance of personal budgets in health and social care as an effective way of ensuring that services fit the specific needs of the individual. We believe that change is best driven by users of services as well as by commissioners and planners.”