The NHS will collapse without social care system reform, Prime Minister Andy Burnham has said.
However, Burnham said he could not commit to overhauling the new social care system before the next election.
He said: ‘I will go as quickly as I can on the reform of social care. I think there are major changes you can make before the next election. This costs the NHS billions of pounds, and we will never get the NHS back to good waiting time standards until we fix social care.'
Baroness Casey's review of social care had been due to submit its final report by 2028, but Burnham said he wanted the process to complete this year.
He added: ‘Whatever political capital I have, I will put in to fixing broken social care, and I would not want to leave office without having brought… substantial change… I can't put a timeline on it right here, right now. If we don't do it, the NHS will collapse under the weight of trying to care for people who've really not needed to end up in the NHS system.'
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has told Burnham not to raise taxes for social care.
