A white paper by homecare technology company Birdie urges for closer integration between the NHS and social care.
Titled ‘Ready to Care: The First Steps to Fixing Social Care’ and published on September 17, 2024, the paper proposes a unified “village of care” model to create a patient-centric system by bridging the gap between the two sectors.
Based on insights from 20 social care leaders, NHS trusts, and home care providers, the paper highlights the existing disconnect contributing to issues like 1.1 million blocked beds and delays in social care for medically fit patients.
Co-authored by Max Parmentier, CEO of Birdie, and Rachael Crook, CEO of social care provider Lifted, the paper outlines seven recommendations intended for adoption by the government at the Labour party conference and autumn budget.
Parmentier emphasizes the significance of social care as a crucial pillar of society and the economy, citing challenges such as long waiting lists for care assessment and funding discrepancies.
The paper urges the government to mandate real-time data sharing between hospitals and care providers by integrating social care software with the NHS Capacity Tracker, a cloud-based tool that facilitates information sharing among social care providers.
Furthermore, it calls for an online national support service for the five million unpaid carers and proposes reforms to the CQC assessment methodology, among other recommendations.
The publication comes in response to Lord Ara Darzi’s report on the state of the NHS and highlights the urgent need for better recognition and resources for social care.
While some sectors push for social care inclusion in digital assessments, NHS England currently has no plans for this in 2025.
