The NHS Alliance responds to the CQC’s State of Care report

Responding to the Care Quality Commission’s (CQC’s) State of Care report, Sir Ciarán Devane, chief executive of the NHS Alliance, said:

“The CQC is right to sound the alarm over adult social care. A stable social care system is essential to improving the integration of services and providing more support closer to where people live. We hope the Casey Review will provide a solution to the long running under-funding of the sector.

“With an ageing population and people presenting with more complex needs, it is imperative that social care is given the attention it deserves.

“More broadly, the CQC is right that the challenges seen across the health and care system are interconnected. Its approach to regulation must therefore reflect that, by assessing services in the context of the wider system in which they operate, rather than in isolation as happens too often at present.

“Our members will also welcome the attention the CQC is bringing to the inequalities that persist across the health and care system. Everyone deserves to get the support they need, regardless of who they are and where they live.

“The findings on children and young people are particularly troubling. Long waits for community and mental health support, alongside falling numbers of health visitors and school nurses, are extremely challenging for those waiting, and for their families, and they risk storing up greater problems for individuals, families and public services further down the line.”