LGA Responds To The Barker Commission Report

Responding to the Barker Commission report proposing the reshaping of health and social care around need, a spokesman from the Local Government Association, said:

“This is a helpful and thoughtful report much of which echoes what local government has long been saying about the need for integrated health and social care and the urgent need to bring more money into the system.”

“Local government leaders have already highlighted the need for a five-year, fully-funded transformation programme to enable the full integration of the commissioning of adult social care and health. This will help to ensure that we have a care and health system that is sustainable, keeps people out of hospital and supports them in their homes for as long as possible.

“The recommendation to introduce a single, local commissioner would do away with some of the unhelpful distinctions between social care and the NHS, allowing councils to be more flexible around the individual needs of people. The report’s suggestion that the single commissioner could be Health and Wellbeing Boards is a positive step and something that the LGA has called for in its ‘100 days’ campaign. We now need to have a sensible and open debate about the proposals in the report to bring in more money and the implications for health and care, including how the system is funded.

“We look forward to building on the recommendations in the report and working with the NHS to focus on preventative work that will enable us to protect the future of health and social care.”