By Tinga Umera, Managing Director at Nexus Care Services
Many within the social care sector have been waiting for a clearer picture of the Prime Ministers ambitious plans for the creation of a National Care Service (NCS).
His speech to the masses at the Labour Conference finally put more detail into one of the most significant shake ups in care and healthcare since the creation of the NHS in 1948.
Andy Burnham’s announcement on the creation of this future NCS undoubtedly represents one of the most significant changes to adult social care in England in recent history.
For those who didn’t manage to catch his speech and subsequent reports in person, as part of the Government’s plans, they will look to introduce free personal care for older people based on need rather than ability to pay.
The creation of the NCS will be phased in progressively as funding, workforce and provider capacity are developed in the next parliament in roughly three to four years’ time.
For Nexus Care Services, however, perhaps the most important part of the announcement is not simply how care will be paid for, but rather the positive direction of travel towards prevention, independence, integration and care delivered closer to home.
As a provider of home and nurse-led care, we have seen the important role that social care can play on alleviating wider pressures in the healthcare system and so look forward to what the future could look like.
The future of care is increasingly at home
At Nexus, we have already begun preparing for this future and it has been at our core since our founding more than a decade ago. Our vision is that:
“Nexus isn’t simply a homecare provider. We are becoming a community health and care organisation that helps people remain safely at home, supports hospital discharge and prevents avoidable admission.”
The Government has said a future NCS should enable people to move more seamlessly between hospitals, homecare and community services, place prevention at the centre of the system and support people to remain independent for longer.
This closely aligns with the direction Nexus has already taken and where we see the social care system playing a crucial role within society.
Alongside high-quality domiciliary care, we are developing our community healthcare capability, including nursing, complex care, clinical oversight and delegated healthcare interventions designed to support people with increasingly complex needs within their own homes.
Looking further ahead, with the advancement of technology, we hope to one day become a provide of care that provides services more akin to healthcare, with the potential to develop “virtual wards” where people receive care in home that would once have required hospital admission.
Our ambition is to become an organisation capable of supporting the whole journey:
Hospital → Home → Recovery → Independence
This makes the Government’s news an exciting development that aligns with our vision of what care can and should be.
Supporting hospital discharge and preventing avoidable admission
One of the biggest opportunities for closer integration between health and social care is reducing unnecessary time in hospital.
The Government has itself highlighted pressures created when people are medically ready to leave hospital but cannot be discharged because appropriate social care is unavailable.
We see it ourselves every winter and have always worked closely with the healthcare system, including local hospitals like Good Hope, but the Government clearly sess that community providers have an increasingly important role to play.
With the appropriate clinical governance, workforce and partnerships, more people can potentially receive the support they need within their own homes rather than remaining unnecessarily in hospital or returning to hospital when deterioration could have been identified earlier.
This is one of the areas in which Nexus intends to continue investing in future both through our own team and the technology we employ.
Funding matters – but so does the structure
The ambition behind the NCS is significant, but the detail of implementation will ultimately determine its success.
The Government has proposed changing the State Pension Triple Lock from April 2030, with savings contributing towards funding the National Care Service.
It currently estimates that the change could reduce state pension expenditure by around £15 billion annually by the end of the 2030s.
However, creating a sustainable care system will require more than identifying a source of funding.
The sector will need clarity around:
Baroness Louise Casey’s independent Commission is expected to make recommendations on how the National Care Service should be built, with its accelerated report now expected in summer 2027.
Building capacity alongside entitlement
A future entitlement to care can only work if sufficient capacity exists to deliver it.
That means investing in carers, nurses, clinical leaders and community healthcare professionals, while creating genuine career pathways within social care.
It was great to hear Mr Burnham open his speech with praise for the carers that provide such an important role in society.
This, in part, seems to be driven by his own personal experiences of the care industry, which is heartening to see and hopefully a reflection of his ambition to see carer as a vocation to be proud of.
It also means ensuring high-quality independent providers remain financially sustainable and are able to invest in their workforces, technology and clinical capability.
At Nexus, we believe the future workforce should have opportunities to develop from traditional care roles into more advanced and clinically supported positions.
That is why our investment in nursing and community healthcare is an important part of our long-term strategy.
We have an incredible team already and work hard to support them and hope the fundings made available via the NCS will help us to accelerate our plans to develop incredible talent.
Nexus is preparing now
For Nexus Care Services, the proposed National Care Service does not mean abandoning traditional homecare. It means building upon it, with the backing of the Government.
We want to combine excellent personal care with stronger clinical capability so that Nexus can support people with increasingly complex needs while working alongside families, local authorities, community healthcare services and the NHS.
As the Government and the Casey Commission develop the detailed structure of reform, we believe providers should also be asking how they can contribute to the solution – be it through responses to consultations or in the preparations we take ahead of the changes ahead.
At Nexus, that work has already begun, because whatever the eventual funding and commissioning structure looks like, one direction appears increasingly important:
More care should be delivered where people most want to receive it — safely within their own homes and communities.
Nexus Care Services intends to be ready to play its part.
We genuinely believe that our carers provide the best service available.
If you need care in Sutton Coldfield, Tamworth or Lichfield, please get in touch with our friendly and approachable team.
