Surrey spending on Adult Social Care is in the hundreds of millions and with an ageing population plus the reduced capacity for self-funding of care financial modelling predicts enormous and unaffordable pressures on funding of Adult Social Care. If we did nothing, then the existing sources of funding would become a fraction of the amount needed for conventional Adult Social Care and the number of staff needed would be undeliverable.
There is already significant spending on prevention work by the NHS, Surrey County Council and others. The problem is that spending is often uncoordinated and not clearly focused on effectiveness. Much of that spending is also on traditional approaches, medical interventions and one of the commonest outcomes of hospital stays for older people is a move to residential care.
I'm pushing for a more focussed Transformational approach that aims to enable residents to stay safe in their homes for much longer and contains those costs. The change will benefit taxpayers, residents where Surrey County Council is picking up the bill, and for those who Self Fund their care. That Transformation will require a move to using technologies such as monitoring services, and telemedicine coupled with delivering improved response services. Aligned to that transformational approach we need to focus much more on integrated prevention work.
Producing a budget that enables us all to live Better, Happier and Longer Lives is a priority for me. A budget review isn't just a case of putting pressure on the accountants to reduce this year's costs or increasing the bills residents must pay....it is about being much smarter.
- Cllr Trefor Hogg
