Future of health and social care in England, UNISON reaction

UNISON, the UK’s largest health union, has welcomed the focus on integration of health and social care in England in the Barker commission’s report.*  But the union warns that adequate levels of funding must be put in place to deliver decent, quality care.
 
Head of Health, Christina McAnea, said:
 
“We are pleased that the Barker commission has focused on integration.  We all want to see a more seamless service for patients.  And we welcome the suggestion that more social care should be free at the point ofuse.  But we think it should go further – there should be a national care service in which all social care is free at the point of use.
 
“But the key issue has to be lack of funding across health and social care.  This Government has cut funding in real terms and we now spend less GDP per head on health than many similar nations.  Additionally, the government has pursued costly and unnecessary wholesale reforms that have no evidence base.
 
“Although this report rightly highlights the need for adequate funding, it places the responsibility for raising revenue across the population and specifically onto older taxpayers and patients.  That would be unfair and regressive taxation. ”
 
The NHS has traditionally received financial settlements 4% above inflation, with higher settlements in the 2000s, but since 2010 this rate of funding has been squeezed to virtually nothing.  Health spending as a proportion of GDP has fallen drastically as a result.