Editor’s Letter
Welcome to the November/December edition of Care Home Management
Care Home Management November/December 2018
Issue 76
Annual Subscription £30.00 Where sold cover price of £4 Managing Editor Ailsa Colquhoun Publishing Editor Steve Hemsley Design/Production Phil Cunningham www.creative-magazine-designer.co.uk Published by S&A Publishing Ltd Croham Lodge, Croham Road, Crowborough East Sussex TN6 2RH Tel: 01892 663350 Email: editorial@chmonline.co.uk sales@chmonline.co.uk Advertising Space Marketing Tel: 01892 677721 Email: davidh@spacemarketing.co.uk www.spacemarketing.co.uk www.chmonline.co.uk Copyright: Care Home Management Magazine 2018
The Publisher holds all copyright and any items within may not be reproduced in any way, for any purpose, without the written permission of the Publisher. While every care has been taken to ensure accuracy, the information contained within this publication is based on submissions to the Publishers who cannot be held responsible for errors and omissions. The publisher does not necessarily agree with the views expressed by contributors and cannot except responsibility for claims made by manufacturers and authors, nor do they accept any responsibility for any errors in the subject matter of this publication.
Care Home www.chmonline.co.uk
November/December 2018
Management
Leaders from health and social care have written to the Chancellor urging him to tackle the substantial funding gap facing adult social care and public health in the forthcoming Budget. Ahead of last month’s Budget, the NHS Confederation, the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS) and NHS Providers wrote to the Chancellor urging him to tackle the substantial funding gap facing adult social care and public health. He was told that since 2009-10, local authorities have faced cuts of 26 per cent while spending on adult social care fell by 8 per cent on average in real terms. For service users this has meant 400,000 fewer people able to access publicly-funded social care in 201617 (compared to 2009-10), resulting in an unmet need for social care affecting at least 1.2 million people. For providers in health and social care there have been equally dire consequences: for the NHS increased pressure on services, which are likely only to get worse as the cold weather kicks in; and for social care, which is already seeing major providers get into trouble. But, as managers will already know, the Budget has promised only a small proportion of what care homes believe they must have to “plug the funding gap” and address the population’s growing unmet social care needs. So, what is the next step for care home providers? Simply, wait and see what largesse the long-awaited Green Paper or the Spending Review will bestow? The problem with wait-and-see, of course, is that promised riches do not always materialise, and if they do, in a growing market, the demand for service provision may outstrip the money provided once it arrives. Just think about the M25 – and how at the time of its construction it was held up as the answer to all London’s traffic problems. Growing numbers of road users have clearly put an end to that particular dream. Nor is the solution of ‘more money’ always the right answer – you only need to hear one cautionary tale of a former lottery winner gone bankrupt to know how easy it is to throw good money after bad. If and when the shackles on the public purse relax, care homes will find they are not the only people in the queue for a hand-out. If social care is ever to even the playing field with national treasures such as the NHS and our schools, it will need to show that it is equally deserving of the investment. If your home needs help to get to that position, it’s time to act – and that is where magazines like Care Home Management, its new virtual network for care home managers (see p6 for more information) and our podcast series starting next month can help. When the money starts to flow, it will go first to those at the front of the quality queue.
editorial@chmonline.co.uk
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Issue 76
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Ailsa Colquhoun Publisher/Editor
November/December 2018 | Care Home Management 3