A major new report has called for a radical shift in the health and care system towards primary community services.

Making care closer to home a reality by The King’s Fund calls for a clear vision, with funding, staff and political energy directed at general practice, pharmacy, community services and social care. 

Sarah Woolnough, chief executive of The King’s Fund, said: “To achieve an effective and sustainable health and care system, politicians and national leaders need to embark on a radical and wholesale refocusing of the health and care system towards primary and community services. Doing so will free up hospitals to treat the patients they are best placed to treat, thanks to many more people being diagnosed and cared for in the community.”

The report makes a number of recommendations, including implementing social care reform, targeting funding at primary and community services, incentivising more staff to working in primary and community services and investing in primary and community buildings and equipment.

Professor Martin Green, chief executive of Care England, said: “This report brings to life the consequences of the government’s continued focus on trying to fix the NHS, without fixing the social care sector. Care England wholeheartedly supports shifting the national focus away from hospitals towards primary and community health and care. 

“As we have repeatedly warned, acute pressures and the short-term nature of government funding cycles dominate health and care leaders’ capacity and resources. This means their scope to focus on long-term outcomes such as prevention is significantly hampered. The introduction of Integrated Care Systems has not been the watershed moment we were hoping for and whilst still in their infancy, this report underscores there is still a long way to go. We must strive for a system that is able to achieve meaningful outcomes, where people can have a seamless journey across health and social care.”

Suhail MIrza, non exec director at Newcross Healthcare, said: “This report is as welcome as it is necessary; it lays bare the lack of vision from government to take a truly holistic approach to health and care delivery. Rightly it exhorts the government to faciliate the move away from the primacy of acute settings to primary care and community settings. The report for me also highlights the consequence of regressive funding and attitude to adult social care; a sector that demands and deserves parity of esteem with the NHS. Without a properly funded social care sector the rest of the healthcare sector cannot function; the hopes for the NHS Long Term Workforce plan would too remain an unrealisable hope.

“This demand for social care may sound like a broken record- repreated so often from leaders across it- but better a broken record than a broken system.”

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “This government wants to end short-term thinking and we are taking the long-term decisions that will mean everyone can access high-quality care that enables choice, control and independence.

“We commissioned the first ever NHS Long Term Workforce Plan to train, retain and reform the workforce, and put primary and community care on a sustainable footing. Backed by more than £2.4 billion, the plan will increase the number of GP training places by 50% by 2031.

“We have also delivered our commitment to provide 50 million more GP appointments per year, rolled out the Pharmacy First service to reduce pressure on GPs, and made up to £8.6 billion available over this financial year and next to support the adult social care workforce and help people leave hospital on time.”