26th March 2015
Contents
- Nearly 40% of Council Tax to be spent on social care by 2019/20
- NHS under increasing strain in second half of coalition Government, finds King’s Fund report
- Surgical workforce increases in 2013/14
Nearly 40% of Council Tax to be spent on social care by 2019/20
A new study from the Local Government Association has predicted that by 2019/20 nearly 40% of the money collected by local authorities as part of residential Council Tax payments will be spent on adult social care services. Currently, 30.73p in every £1 of Council Tax goes to care for vulnerable adults, by far the greatest expense and more than double that of the next biggest spending area of child social services.
The capacity of social care is seen as a key determinant of NHS performance, particularly with regards to A&E attendances and the discharge of admitted patients. Councils have had to contest with a 40% decline in funding from central government since 2010 although the Government’s Better Care Fund, which will see £5.3bn shared between councils and the NHS, is designed to better integrate health and social care. However the spending breakdown analysed by the Local Government Association excludes money from ring-fenced grants, such as the Better Care Fund.
NHS under increasing strain in second half of coalition Government, finds King’s Fund report
The King’s Fund has released its second report on how well the NHS has performed under the coalition Government, based on patient and staff surveys and data on waiting times, outcomes, safety and quality of care.
The report found that NHS performance has come under increasing strain in the last two years relative to 2010-13, with most of the NHS working close to its limits. There are also growing concerns about the quality of mental health services. While staff morale is increasingly poor, patient experience remains positive, with public confidence at an all-time high.
Despite extra funds in 2014/15, the report predicts a considerable NHS deficit this year, and recommends that the Government commits to substantial additional
funding, including a transformation fund to invest in new models of care.
While the report discourages any grand reform, it recommends reform ‘from within’ the NHS, through developing clinical leadership, as well as equipping staff with skills in quality improvement to foster a culture that promotes safe, high-quality care.
Surgical workforce increases in 2013/14
The NHS workforce grew by 1.7% in 2013/14, according to the latest statistics published this week. The total workforce, which includes medical, specialist dental (the data excludes high street dentists), and non-medical staff, numbered 1,387,692 at the end of September 2014 and has grown by an average of 1% per year since 2004.
The data shows that there were 110,632 medical and specialist dental staff contracted in the English NHS, of which 22,308 are classified as being surgical and 2,807 dental. In addition, there were 1,257 dental public health specialists. Both surgical and dental numbers increased in 2013/14, by 285 and 63 respectively. There was an 8% increase in the number of A&E doctors during the last year.
Hospital consultants make up 42,733 of the medical workforce (up 3.7% on the year before) with the number of surgical consultants numbering 8,077. The figures also show that there were 790 dental consultants.
The statistics also indicate that the number of hospital doctors in training currently stands at 55,079, an increase of 0.9% on the previous year.