Dr Helena McKeown, Chairman Community Care Committee
Speech for 2005 ARM
29 June 2005
We have had an extremely successful year as much of the committee’s existing and new work has become government priorities. The committee met on two occasions in 2004-05 and has worked in a pro-active way in developing the Association’s community care policies and forging partnerships with external organisations and government departments. Members have also continued their constructive dialogue with Department of Health officials on government policies with regard to the funding and delivery of services for older people, delayed hospital discharges and continuing NHS care.
The Head of Delivery, Older People & Disability, Department of Health, attended the committee last November and this resulted in the BMA commenting on key policy issues, such as the training and retention of the future social care workforce and the use of intermediate care services.
Professor Ian Philp, National Director for Older People’s Health, Department of Health, attended the committee in April and reported back on implementation of the National Service Framework (NSF) and government initiatives such as the ‘Partnerships for Older People’ Programme. As a result of these meetings, the Association has been asked to submit its views on health promotion for older people and the future organisation of social care services. We welcome your ideas in response to the questions posed by Professor Philp, which will be posted on the Community Care website and can be e-mailed to BChristie@bma.org.uk over the next six weeks.
We wish to extend this collaboration with the Department of Health in 2005-06 to include discussions on children, families and maternity services and have invited the Department's Head of Child Health, Maternity and Women’s Health, to the next committee meeting in November, to examine the NSF and the implementation of Children’s Trusts, which are the local vehicles for delivering much of the government’s legislation covering children and young people to age 19. The committee welcomes the appointment of Children’s Commissioners in the UK and supports the government’s child protection reforms. As a multi-craft committee we see as central the need to support doctors of all specialties in this important and sensitive area of work. The committee will be very ‘busy’ in future with the BMA having to respond to the government’s major policy reforms on long-term care and adult social care.
The committee agreed at its November meeting that a BMA policy paper should be prepared on the management of long-term conditions (LTC). This is likely to be published on the Association’s website later this year following consultation with crafts. The Patient Liaison Group is also producing a paper on the Expert Patient Programme (EPP) to complement this important work, especially in light of the new National Service Framework (NSF) for LTC. Members have already provided their initial responses to government policy in this complex area and on community matrons, in particular.
Earlier this year, I attended the launch of the manifesto for the ‘Partnership on LTC’ and also met with Ian Gibson, MP, to give the views of the medical profession on the government’s policies, for consideration by the Secretary of State for Health. I have also been invited by Professor Philp to represent the BMA on the LTC NSF Stakeholder Engagement Group.
The Green Paper on the future of adult social care was released in March and we have provided comments which informed the BMA’s response on these major reforms, which include the greater use of personal care budgets and private service providers. The Association’s submission to the DoH will be placed on the CCC website before the beginning of the new session.
The committee has also monitored the work undertaken by the DoH in connection with continuing NHS care and noted the two critical reports from the Health Service Ombudsman, and also the new national framework, which we have been seeking, for the assessment for fully funded NHS continuing care. The BMA stated its opposition to the ‘postcode lottery’ of the previous assessment system and welcomes the introduction of national criteria. We will continue to challenge the false distinction between health and social care and the government’s failure to provide free social care in England.
The committee examined both the Mental Capacity and draft Mental Health Bills. Members were broadly supportive of the proposed capacity legislation, which is now on the statute book, but felt that the revised draft Bill on mental health was flawed, particularly around the detention of people with severe personality disorder, even if they had committed no crime and their condition was not treatable. Members feel that this piece of legislation will have to be examined and revised yet again by government in order to have any chance of becoming law.
The committee has continued to support the vital and often unrecognised work of carers and responded to the Department’s of Health’s consultation on ‘Carers and Disabled Children Act 2000 and Carers (Equal Opportunities) Act 2004 - Combined Draft Policy Guidance’. We note research commissioned by Carers UK that indicates that carers are twice as likely to suffer from ill health as non-carers.
Finally, I would also like to thanks Carers UK for the valuable campaigning information they have provided members, and also Barry Christie and Kumi Patel, Council Secretariat, for whose excellent support I am totally indebted in my first year as Committee Chair.
