Council leader Pete Marland is concerned that proposals to force the NHS and council-run adult social care services closer together will miss the most important point.
Yesterday (11/2), Conservative Health and Social Care Secretary Matt Hancock announced to Parliament plans to legally integrate the National Health Service with social care services.
Previous reforms have lead to the creation of what is known as “integrated care systems” with the Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes (BLMK) ICS bringing together councils and the NHS to discuss plans.
Council leader Cllr Pete Marland (Lab, Wolverton) said: “The BLMK ICS was forced on the local health system by the central NHS and it has spent years and tonnes of cash getting in the way of integration, spending endless time and resources on tinkering with the insane level of bureaucracy in a fragmented NHS.
“Local partners such as the council, the local NHS and the hospital already have a great relationship in MK and work together closely on things like integrating social care.”
He added that he is “really worried” that there will be more control from Whitehall which leaves social care “chronically underfunded and a health system that even before covid was stretched to breaking point.
“I do worry that ministers think there is a painless way to solve complex problems through touting things like efficiency or integration, when in reality what is needed in social care is a properly and fairly funded system that delivers for local people.”
Introducing his White Paper yesterday (Thursday) Mr Hancock told the Commons it would reduce red tape and support closer working.
“Local government and the NHS have told us that they want to work together to improve health outcomes for residents,” he said.
“We have listened, and these changes reflect what our health and care family have been asking for, building on the NHS’s own long-term plan.”
His Labour parliamentary shadow, Jonathan Ashworth, in a dig at the BLMK ICS said: “How will he avoid clashing agendas and lack of trust between partners, as we have seen at the ICS in Bedfordshire and Luton, for example?”
Criticism is understood to come from a hard-hitting article in the Health Service Journal, which was discussed at a recent BLMK partnership board meeting.
The board heard that a response was due to be sent to the publication, stating that the ICS is working well.
Cllr Andy Reilly (Shenley Brook End) MK Council’s Lib Dem spokesman for health and adult social care, said: “The covid crisis has led to successful partnership working on the ground and this should continue.
“The problem with the Government’s new announcement about the NHS is the lack of a plan for reform of social care.
“Covid has cost the lives of around 25,000 people in the UK’s care homes and there is an urgent need to fix social care.”
