Andy Burnham has not ruled out tax rises to fund social care reform, but insists that current inefficiencies must be addressed first. Responding to a question from ITV's Rebecca Barry, the Greater Manchester mayor argued that existing resources could be used more effectively.
Existing resources can achieve more
Burnham stated: "I think more is possible from within existing resources. And the things that I’ve talked about today, particularly around the workforce, will be fully funded. I think it is possible from existing budgets to do much more." He highlighted the cycle of unnecessary hospital admissions from social care settings, leading to long stays and delayed discharges due to lack of care availability.
£2.5bn annual cost to NHS
Burnham noted that the cost to the NHS of patients who are medically fit to leave but cannot due to insufficient care is estimated at £2.5bn a year. He added: "If you add all of it up, you are talking several billion pounds a year is lost from the lack of a preventative front-end social care service that’s well supported." He urged the government to tackle these problems "before we talk about tax rises."
Difficult decisions ahead
However, Burnham acknowledged that comprehensive reform may require tax increases. He said: "I think Louise [Casey – see 10.18am] indicated some of what we would want to in the fullest sense will require difficult decisions." He added: "But we will be honest with people about those. We will put them before the country at the right time, and we will hopefully proceed with people’s consent."
