Paul Burstow says social care needs fundamental reform

Paul Burstow has written an article for PoliticsHome to coincide with the National Health Service's 65th birthday. He looks at the Care Bill currently making its way through parliament and says demographic change means further radical reforms are needed:

The goal must be to make co-ordinated care the default rather than the exception. The best results for the individual and for the taxpayer come when care is co-ordinated around them and their family, when the home is the hub of care. The new Boards are well placed to commission this person centred care. 

A person born in the NHS’ founding year of 1948 can reasonably expect to live well into their 80s. When the NHS marks its 100th birthday, there will be over 100,000 people marking their own centenaries. It is this profound age shift that requires us to remake our health and care system, and ensure that the integration, prevention and asset-focused approach that the Bill promises really does become a reality.