Adult social care needs to be on a sustainable financial footing and the pressures on the system need to be properly understood.
Key messages
This year is the tenth anniversary of the Wanless Review of social care for older people. Over that time, and under successive governments, there have been further major reports on the future of care and health in addition to key shifts in policy direction and new legislation. These have all sought to optimise our care and health system for the challenge of meeting growing demand. The challenge is no less acute today and the financial environment that both local government and the NHS are operating in make the need for change ever more important.