Date published: 23 March 2017 by Anna Jackson
Our new report, Hidden Savings, shows that our vital emotional and practical support not only helps the whole family to cope better but also saves the health and social care system at least £2 million each year.
Estimated savings are made by considering the spending which the public sector might be forced to incur without our tailored support for families.
Some of these savings are immediate and specific, such as enabling families to attend appointments they might otherwise miss. Other savings are potential longer term savings, such as support which contributes to families avoiding crisis situations with repercussions for their mental health, family stability and security of household income.
Examples of how we save money include:
- Family Support Workers ensuring that NHS appointments are not missed by overstretched families
- Family Support Workers enabling children’s hospital beds to be freed up sooner because a family feels more confident to manage their child’s condition at home.
But despite the estimated £2 million savings that we enable, only three per cent of our funding comes from state sources – equivalent to only 11 days of funding in a year.
Appendices and source data for Hidden Savings can be accessed here
What we are calling for
We are calling for all elements of children’s palliative care to be made eligible for ring-fenced state funding. This would mean that support such as bereavement support, emotional help, and support for siblings, is no longer neglected.
We are also calling for local decision makers to make sure that services providing emotional and practical support for families with a life threatened or terminally ill child are not excluded from local funding streams, and for additional child social care funding to be provided by whichever party forms the next UK government.
