We Care: Who Pays?

In December 2004 Sue Ryder Care launched its first public affairs campaign - ‘We Care: Who Pays?' 

The campaign has revealed:

• Sue Ryder Care currently subsidises the state by £7 million every year by providing neurological and palliative care on behalf of the NHS
• Funding levels for Sue Ryder Care services are inconsistent across the UK, leading to a postcode lottery
• The current situation is unsustainable and we fear for the future for palliative and neurological care provided by the third sector if the situation is not addressed

Sue Ryder Care provides services commissioned by the state that meet and often exceed national quality requirements. If similar services were offered by the public sector, they would be properly funded.  However, our research has found that none of the charity's commissioners pay the true cost of the basic care they purchase.

Government commitments

The government has continued to support the need for commissioners to fund the true cost of care, and for equitable and transparent contracting, in a variety of documents including HM Treasury's ‘Cross Cutting Review: Role of the Voluntary and Community Sector in Service Delivery' (2002) and the Department of Health Report of the Third Sector Task Force ‘No Excuses - Step Forward Into Action' (2006).  Despite the level of official support, we have yet to see these national initiatives being translated into implementation at a local level.

Impact

The consequences of this continued under-funding across the UK are:

• Services are being eroded, leaving invaluable additional services in danger as voluntary funds are diverted to support shortfalls in government funding
• Services cannot be developed effectively to meet the challenges outlined in the health white paper ‘Our Health, Our Care, Our Say' as voluntary funds cannot be used to develop new and innovative services
• Planning efficient effective services that meet the real needs of communities over time is impossible since funding is still negotiated on a year by year basis
• The lack of stable and consistent funding means that the risk is on third sector providers to develop new services, which acts as a disincentive

Cost of care

It is important to note that the charity is not asking commissioners to pay for the whole of Sue Ryder Care's services, but the true cost of the care they choose to purchase. As a charity, Sue Ryder Care raises funds voluntarily to provide services that we feel are invaluable to families and local communities, such as social work and bereavement care, but which we acknowledge are not currently priorities for healthcare commissioners. 

For more details on the "We Care: Who Pays?" campaign, please click here.