Health committee calls for ring-fencing

The Health Select committee has called for care funding to be ring-fenced and said the whole health and care system needs to be transformed in its report into public expenditure on health and social care. It said that, as health and care costs rise, the money provided to councils to provide social care should be ring-fenced in order to prevent it being spent elsewhere. The report warned that the care provided by the NHS and social care system will break down quicker if progress isn’t made to develop more integrated health and social care services which focus on meeting the needs of individual patients. Health Committee chair Stephen Dorrell said: It’s unlikely that public expenditure on health and social care services will increase significantly in the foreseeable future. This means that the only way to sustain or improve present service levels in the NHS will be to focus on a transformation of care through genuine and sustained service integration.’