Social care white paper: we don't know a lot and we're not doing a lot

 A Guardian Professional report on a House of Commons Health subcommittee reveals that the government has really 'oversold' the improvements offered in the social care White Paper. Asked about the details, these were the answers:

Will they actually be banning home care visits as short as 15 minutes? Well, actually no: they'll be 'spreading best practice'.

Will they be getting rid of the postcode lottery by setting a national minimum standard? Well yes, but it will be at the totally inadequate 'substantial' level that most local authorities operate at anyway.

How is the 'universal deferred payment scheme' targeted at 2015 going to be different from what local authorities do anyway? Well they're still 'modelling' that, but not all local authorities do it. How many don't? They don't monitor that, so they don't actually know. They'll have to get independent research to find out.

So the reality is they don't know a lot, and, in the absence of a decision on social care funding, they're not proposing to do a lot either.

Link to The Guardian report.

Citation for the social care White Paper: Department of Health (2012) Caring for our future: reforming care and support (Cm 8378). London: TSO.Retrieved 24th July 2012 from http://www.dh.gov.uk/health/files/2012/07/White-Paper-Caring-for-our-future-reforming-care-and-support-PDF-1580K.pdf.