The Conservatives have been urged to ensure adult social care is high on the agenda when they hold the party conference in Birmingham.

The appeal has come from Care England, the group representing independent providers of adult social care in the UK.

Care England logoThe organisation’s chief executive Professor Martin Green OBE, said the NHS could not afford another winter of pressure caused by patients waiting for care places to become available.

“We encourage the people of Birmingham to ensure that Conservative MPs and councillors are held to account this week and that health and social care are top of the agenda,” he said.

“With winter pressures not too far off it is essential that the social care sector is not left out in the cold and that councillors and commissioners engage constructively with the adult social care sector.

“Indeed, analysis by Care England indicates that in July alone, the NHS could have saved £346,000 simply by facilitating the patients in Birmingham waiting for a local care home bed.

“The solution to winter pressures is not within hospitals, but within a properly funded sustainable local care market.”

Prof Green added that pressures on public finances in Birmingham are leaving those needing social care at risk of losing out.

He said: “There are huge challenges in Birmingham, not least the high turnover rate in nurses in social care and care workers – they are essential and the system will simply fall apart without an adequate number of well trained staff.”