PLMR's Chris Calland for Healthcare Business magazineAs the summer draws to a close and we survey the receding sea of rumours, wild speculation and non-stories that make up the silly season, there are two political developments that independent sector care providers would do well to note.
The reason why is because they could point the way to not only the immediate future of care provision in England, but also the possible shape of things to come under any Government led by David Cameron (who, if the pollsters are to be believed, will take power at some point in the next nine months following an increasingly looming General Election – more about that later).
The development that has those trying to predict what the next Conservative Government could look like is called (appropriately enough) the “Future Shape” project, and is being pioneered by the Conservative-controlled London Borough of Barnet.
What has already attracted headlines is that Barnet is seeking to use the business models of budget airlines such as easyJet and Ryanair to try and drive efficiency in its public services. As The Guardian reported when it covered the story, a spokesperson for the council has even gone so far as to unofficially dub the project “easyCouncil”.
In a nutshell, what Barnet has suggested doing is copying the practices of some of the budget airlines, whereby customers are presented with a low-cost initial charge but then pay extra for all additional services (for example, a flight to Majorca might be priced at 99p, but there are then charges for checking-in, priority boarding, airport taxes, and so on).
So, with regards to care services, under Barnet’s plans an individual might be offered a basic level of service at a lower cost, but would then use their personal budgets or allowances to choose what other services they wished to purchase with the money they had available (which is obviously not that radical a departure from the evolving personalisation agenda, although it would perhaps see a greater emphasis on the contribution from the individual).
It’s not surprising, therefore, that some political commentators have suggested that the Barnet project could point the way to how a future Conservative Government could push through radical public service reform amid heavy spending cuts (although David Cameron’s recent comments in a speech to the Local Government Association were more in the vein of allowing councils to make such reforms, rather than forcing them to do so).
If emulated, the Future Shape project could also possibly open up many new opportunities to independent sector providers – Barnet alone is looking to make savings of up to £15 million a year by outsourcing services, including notably residential care.
However, with huge pressures on the public finances, many local councils are already seeking to implement cost cutting measures in anticipation of cuts imposed upon them by Central Government (whoever wins the next election). And this is the second of the two recent political developments that independent sector providers would do well to note.
Indeed, if you’re reading this column you may have already noticed the effects of this development. Specifically, many local councils are tightening their eligibility criteria for older people accessing care services, meaning that it is increasingly those with more acute needs who are gaining placements.
Why is that important news for care providers? Well, if local councils continue to tighten eligibility criteria, one obvious knock-on effect is that providers of specialist services (such as Dementia care) will continue to receive local authority placements, whilst those that focus on providing local authority-funded services for people with more intermediate needs will start to feel the pinch (unless they can make up the shortfall by attracting self-funders).
Now, a national insurance scheme for social care as proposed in the Government’s recent Green Paper on the reform of adult care and support in England may, of course, change all of that. However, with the aforementioned looming General Election now dominating discourse at Westminster, don’t expect much progress on the implementation of the proposals in the Green Paper any time soon.
But do certainly expect local councils to try and continue to tighten their belts, well before any change of Government seeks to implement across the board savings.
Chris Calland is a Senior Account Manager with the health and social care sector specialist political lobbying, media relations, crisis management and planning communications consultancy PLMR. http://www.plmr.co.uk/
