David Lock stated in your.article ('David Lock on continuing care liability'): 'A line must be drawn somewhere between health and social care... the social services lobby appears to have been highly effective at persuading the team designing the new eligibility criteria that 'care needs' can usually mean 'healthcare needs', and therefore the NHS should pick up the bill.'

David Lock stated in your.article ('David Lock on continuing care liability'): 'A line must be drawn somewhere between health and social care... the social services lobby appears to have been highly effective at persuading the team designing the new eligibility criteria that 'care needs' can usually mean 'healthcare needs', and therefore the NHS should pick up the bill.'

I think David has forgotten (or ignored?) the fact that over the past 25 years that line has been persistently moved so that more and more of what was 'healthcare' is now called social care. Thus 'home helps' now carry out many tasks previously only undertaken by nurses; residential homes now look after people previously cared for in long-stay hospitals..The social services lobby is at last fighting back, prompted by the huge investment in health and chronic lack of investment in social care over the past 10 years.

The public also seems to be lining up behind social services as they see the NHS pushing more and more of its free services onto local authorities, who can only deliver them by levying charges on the patients.

Roger Hook is.Silver Surfer project manager at Nuneaton and Bedworth borough council.