![\"Torbay](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/0_Darling.jpg\")
<\/p>\nHealthcare officials have been accused of letting spending spiral out of control<\/p>\n
Torbay MP Steve Darling speaking in the House of Commons(Image: parliamentlive.tv)<\/p>\n
Healthcare officials who are poised to end a ground-breaking partnership with Torbay Council<\/a> because it costs too much have been accused of letting spending spiral out of control.<\/p>\n The council\u2019s partnership with the Torbay<\/a> and South Devon<\/a> NHS<\/a> Foundation Trust has been held up as a model of how adult social care should be provided, but the alliance is under threat.<\/p>\n The trust says the gap between the cost of providing the service and the funding it receives currently stands at \u00a335million a year, and keeping it going is not sustainable. In an open letter to the people of South Devon, trust chief executive Joe Teape says other local services could suffer if the partnership continues to cost so much.<\/p>\n But Torbay\u2019s Liberal Democrat MP Steve Darling says the trust could have spent its money more wisely.<\/p>\n \u201cThey have added additional unnecessary costs,\u201d he said. \u201cThey have done a belt-and-braces approach when just a belt would have done.\u201d<\/p>\n The trust currently works with Torbay Council to provide adult social care services through an Integrated Care Organisation, and the government\u2019s watchdog the Care Quality Commission recently praised the partnership in an inspection report.<\/p>\n The pioneering partnership has attracted national attention and supports the NHS 10-Year Plan to shift activity from hospital settings into communities.<\/p>\n Council leader David Thomas (Con, Preston) recently raised the alarm over the possible end of the partnership, saying that the amount of money contributed by the council was \u2018fair\u2019, and there were ways in which costs could be brought down.<\/p>\n Mr Teape\u2019s open letter says the trust is proud of the success of the integrated approach, which supports some of the most vulnerable people in Torbay, but with demand and costs increasing, something has to change.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is no longer financially sustainable,\u201d he says. \u201cWe have a statutory duty to break even and we cannot do that with such a significant shortfall in adult social care funding.<\/p>\n \u201cUltimately, this overspend will impact on the NHS services we provide and we have to prioritise these for our local communities.\u201d<\/p>\n His letter goes on to say that the current model has \u2018run its course\u2019, and adds: \u201cWhile it achieved real benefits for many years, it is no longer the right framework for the needs we face today.<\/p>\n \u201cThis review is not about stepping back from partnership working. It is about finding a fair, long\u2011term solution that protects adult social care and the wider health and care system that local people rely on.\u201d<\/p>\n But Mr Darling said the trust had \u2018just let the spending rip\u2019 and had \u2018over-medicalised\u2019 its care packages.<\/p>\n \u201cThey have failed to grasp the nettle due to their failures as a management organisation. The local authority has given the trust clear guidance.<\/p>\n \u201cAs is the case with children\u2019s services, you can get a firm grip on it by looking at the most expensive cases and doing the hard yards to get those sorted out.<\/p>\n \u201cThe trust is letting down the people of Torbay by its clear failure to properly engage with these issues.\u201d<\/p>\n The trust expects to make a final decision at its board meeting early next month, after which there would be a 12-month transition period to a new set-up.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Healthcare officials have been accused of letting spending spiral out of control Torbay MP Steve Darling speaking in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":743649,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[4316],"tags":[105,4348,11518,211,285,116739,116740,16,15],"class_list":["post-743648","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-healthcare","tag-health","tag-healthcare","tag-liberal-democrats","tag-nhs","tag-politics","tag-torbay","tag-torbay-council","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116017185813710699","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/743648","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=743648"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/743648\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/743649"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=743648"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=743648"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=743648"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}