Intermediate care money may be being used to cover local government deficits

Social services was allocated £600 million in the NHS Plan
for intermediate care but there are concerns that the money is not
being used for its intended purpose.

Chartered Society of Physiotherapists chief executive Phil Gray
told the NHS Confederation conference in Manchester last week:
“There are worrying signs that part or substantial chunks of this
money are being siphoned off into local government deficits.”

Gray warned that in years to come politicians would say “we gave
you this huge sum of money – what have you done with it?”

Keith Wilson, head of the National Service Framework for Older
People implementation group, said part of the problem was that
ministers did not have the power to ring-fence money going into
local authorities.