Are we on the brink of a social care revolution?

The details of one of the most hotly-debated Government spending reviews in years is due tomorrow, which is likely to prove historic for many areas of public service, that will be forced to adjust to cope with a reduction in funding, but may also prove historic for the social care sector for a very different reason. With an ageing population to consider, the signs all point to social care as being one sector that does not receive a reduction in Government expenditure, but rather that funds will be redirected into this pressing problem and make way for a defining time, with the phrase ‘Social Care Revolution’ even beginning to be voiced amongst professionals.

It is certainly clear that any care-related Coalition Government legislation will prove more important to social care than to other forms of care, something that leading NHS professionals are taking seriously as a factor that may eat into their funding if rumours that the Government will redirect NHS finances into social care turn out to be a reality. Perhaps ironically, during a time of wide-scale public sector cuts, ministers are rumoured to be poised to take major social care legislation forward. The fear of the consequences of an ageing population left unaccounted for seems to be proving more powerful any other anxieties that leading politicians might have, except perhaps over childcare, in defeating the economist’s demand for austerity, though it is clear that no extra public sector funding is available and that prioritisation is the key to effectiveness.

So the home care sector could be one of the few public services with an optimistic outlook regarding future opportunities that result from the spending review, as well as from further legislation throughout the course of this Parliament. Social care experts are poised to make sure that services make the most of the challenges that lie ahead, with Nadra Ahmed, of the National Care Association, taking the chance at a London Care Show seminar to encourage care providers not to feel nervous of change, pointing out that services are ‘unrecognisable from ten years ago anyway, so providers shouldn’t be afraid of reform’.

Further opportunities are already being pursued to ensure that emerging enterprises and innovation are taken advantage of and find their way to as many users as possible, with the onus on producing services that allow elderly and disabled people to live as independently as possible, through reablement and rehabilitation methods, rather than being turned into dependents. One such example is that of the ‘Eden Alternative’, an expanding UK and Ireland service that grew from the ideas of Harvard physician Dr William Thomas, that has pioneered ways of encouraging independence in dementia sufferers, and looks to achieve positive results through supervision techniques rather than through care.

The needs of care service users, however, are varied and wide-ranging and will never be answered though one single programme. The feeling amongst industry professionals is that pioneering work often goes unrewarded, or meets with unhelpful barriers – such as health and safety legislation – that delay developments that can change people’s lives and make care services more cost efficient. Should opportunities prove more fruitful than many may have feared during the economic collapse, the drive will be to create a landscape in which reform can move freely and unhindered.