Breakfast discussion with the Prime Minister on the future of care and support

Prime Minister Gordon Brown came to The King’s Fund on Monday, 12 May 2008 to launch a nationwide government consultation on how adult social care should be funded.

He announced that the six-month consultation would address the challenges of affordability, personalisation and how to promote better collaboration between health and social care services. He said he wanted care to be more responsive to demands for independence, making it easier for people to stay in their own homes.

He was joined by Ivan Lewis MP, Health Minister with responsibility for social care, who said the government would publish a Green Paper based on the results of this consultation early in 2009. The King's Fund Chief Executive Niall Dickson also spoke to the audience of charity leaders, health and social care professionals, trade union representatives and the media.

After hearing a speech by the Prime Minister, The King’s Fund facilitators at each table posed six questions to their discussion groups and noted the various ideas expressed in the discussions that followed. The following document brings together the key issues raised and solutions suggested from all those individual table groups. Please note that it does not represent the opinion of The King’s Fund nor that of any one organisation, nor is it a consensus of opinion reached by the participants; rather it exists as a summary of all the different points of view expressed during the session.