The Care Quality Commission's (CQC) annual assessment of the state of health and social care in England looks at the quality of care over the past year. This year's report warns that the health and social care system remains fragmented and under severe strain as it prepares for a major shift from hospital to community care. 

Helen Walker, Chief Executive of Carers UK said:

“As our report on the cost of caring, published this week showed, unpaid carers are increasingly providing more care. 52% of carers say the number of hours that they spend caring each week has risen in the last year. This strong message from the Care Quality Commission rightly underlines the real risks of moving care to the community without getting the proper structures, social care and community health funding in place. 

“We're deeply concerned about the potential negative consequences. 74% of carers say they have felt stressed or anxious and 20% have experienced an injury because of caring. Without the right support in place, carers will end up doing even more – leaving them with no choice but to give up work, face financial hardship, experience poor health and face greater isolation than they already do.

“Not only would this be very difficult for families, but it would be challenging for the economy.  The Government has already shown that £37 billion is lost to the economy by carers giving up work to care.  61% of working carers say caring has affected the type of employment they have taken on. Our health and social care system relies heavily on the support provided by unpaid carers, and we need to start valuing their contributions.

“Many of these challenges are preventable with better information sharing, integrated services and investment in social care, creating a valuable opportunity to build better support for carers within plans for social care and NHS reform.”