Adult Social Care – a Liberal Democrat Priority

Better support for family carers - Better joined up thinking.

Social Care is one of the biggest demands on Suffolk County Council’s budget. It is also an issue on which the Liberal Democrats, under Ed Davey’s leadership, are taking a prominent lead nationally. Better support for family carers and better joined up thinking between the NHS and our County Council adult care services is crucial.

Liberal Democrats are very clear that investing in the support of family carers is a win-win option. Not only does it improve the quality of life for carers and cared-for people, but it reduces the risk of much more expensive paid-for care being required.

Locally it is crucial that the County Council’s adult social care service works with the voluntary sector, such as Suffolk Family Carers, to enable family carers to continue caring. This will require novel approaches to respite breaks and respite at home, funded by savings from the reduced need for costly care-home placements.

Better joined up thinking between the NHS and the County Council’s adult care services is crucial, especially with regard to the support for frailer people and those living with long-term conditions. Preventing health crises through good support in the community reduces the demand for expensive residential social care. And a strong focus on the enablement of patients during and after health crises that have led to hospital admission would reduce the delay, demand and cost of post-acute care including the need for care home placements.

The Liberal Democrats are very clear. We will not be able to fix the pressures on the National Health Service and the burgeoning demand for adult social care, either at home or in care homes, unless we join up mental health, physical health and social health care in a holistic way to minimise the dependency of people who are frail or living with long term conditions.

A great deal of this requires national government attention. The Liberal Democrats are the only party with serious proposals to address the social care crisis at all levels. We have challenged other parties to join us in building a long-term consensus to ensure this issue is properly tackled, rather than continually kicked down the road as being not solvable in one parliamentary term.

In the meantime, local Liberal Democrats will push for an increased focus on enablement in preventative care and crisis management in Suffolk.