Care England, the largest representative body for independent providers of adult social care, has made its submission to the NHS consultation on the 21-22 National Tariff Payment System making several key points on behalf of the adult social care sector and how the National Tariff Payment System is often unfairly applied to it, including:

The current methodology is counter to supporting the fragile care home sector. Its application is taken literally by commissioners who simply apply inflation and efficiency factors as stated without engagement with providers or consultation.

This directly conflicts with the principle of acting in the residents’ best interest under NTPS and CHC rules.

The application of the proposed 1.1% efficiency factor in the care home sector is both irrational and inappropriate. It is not based upon any evidence from the non-acute sector, nor was it ever intended to reflect the non-acute sector.

Professor Martin Green OBE, Chief Executive of Care England, says:

“Many care providers have told us that their interactions with some NHS commissioners are not up to scratch. The misapplication of the National Tariff Payment System is one piece of the jigsaw regarding the unfairness with which many NHS commissioners treat adult social care services. However, other negative elements remain, including Continuing Healthcare (CHC) uplifts, more broadly, which do not reflect the true cost of care.”

Alongside this, Care England has produced a plethora of briefings for members to empower them in their interactions with NHS commissioners.

Martin Green continues:

“The Covid-19 pandemic has shown more than ever before the importance of the adult social care sector and NHS maintaining a healthy and fruitful relationship. As we advance, this relationship will be strengthened by a wider proportion of NHS colleagues taking greater account of the adult social care sector when developing and implementing policy. A failure to do so, we fear, will risk undermining the implementation of the integration agenda and those reforms set out in the Health and Care White Paper. However, this is not to say that there is already fantastic collaboration going on between the two. Care England remains willing and able to enable this relationship building.”