MPs unite to ask for government help to improve social care services
Four county MPs have united to press the Department of Health for more money to support social care through the winter.
The three Conservatives and one Liberal Democrat have all added their names to a letter to Health Secretary Steve Barclay, calling for more financial support for Shropshire's hard-pressed health services.
Tory parliamentarians Ludlow's Philip Dunne, Shrewsbury & Atcham's Daniel Kawczynski, The Wrekin's Mark Pritchard, and North Shropshire Lib Dem Helen Morgan, have asked for a greater share of £500m the Government is set to provide for social care across the country.
The quartet have warned how issues faced by the sector have a knock-on effect – leading to a worse performance in ambulance and hospital services.
They add that the rural nature of parts of the county only serve to exacerbate the problems, and that regularly there are 150 people in the county waiting for access to social care.
They said: "The provision of health and social care services within NHS Shropshire, Telford & Wrekin reflects the national challenges but is magnified by our specific circumstances: a split town & rural community, a growing, ageing population, enhanced difficulties in recruiting and retaining staff into the sector and the legacy of our historical estate.
"All partners across the health and care system are working relentlessly to ensure our citizens are cared for in the most appropriate setting.
"Nevertheless, the impact of our circumstances – and particularly the difficulty in recruiting people into all care services – can result in delays in patients being cared for in the right place.
"This has multiple effects, including delays to ambulance handovers into the emergency departments and patients waiting too long to access care.
"As importantly, patients can end up being cared for in a bed in a hospital or care home, when their best place may be back home. This can have a very real impact on the quality of life for patients requiring support."
The four outline how extra money is already being put into the system locally – but that more national funding would allow for more staff to help improve services.
They said: "We regularly have approximately 150 people waiting to access social care, including domiciliary and residential care, in a system already providing care to more patients with more complex needs than ever before.
"The local NHS (via the Integrated Care Board) has invested an additional £10m into the two local authorities which is targeted at supporting timely discharge from hospitals.
"This is over and above the BCF (Better Care Fund) contributions through the NHS and local authorities. Allocation of the additional social care funding will help support recruitment into the system to build capacity in domiciliary care and other areas of social care provision and allow for our residents to be cared for in the most appropriate setting improving outcomes for all.
"We are writing to request sympathetic consideration of the needs of the Shropshire, Telford & Wrekin health area when allocating available funds for this winter and addressing social care pressures.
"Funding formulae regularly under-allocate to rural areas in general and to Shropshire in particular.
"We would be grateful if you could take steps to reverse this when allocating the latest £500 million provided to your department by HM Treasury to assist with the current pressures."
