Since Mr Green was once de facto deputy prime minister, it also offers clues as to what a much-delayed green paper on the subject might say. Since social care is devolved to the Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish administrations, Mr Green’s plan is mostly relevant to England – although any changes could be expected to have knock-on effects. Mr Green’s paper, for the rightwing Centre for Policy Studies thinktank, estimates that delays in moving older patients out of hospitals cost around £1bn a year. Already, 20% of all local authority spending is on social care for the retired. Care concerns us all, and while ideas about how it should be delivered and funded are, of course, political, a narrowly partisan answer to the social care question will not do.

Source: The Guardian April 29, 2019 17:26 UTC