Past Event

About the Speaker

Ms  Nina Hemmings, Nuffield Trust

Nina joined the Nuffield Trust as a Researcher in Health Policy in January 2018. She provides support across the Policy team on a range of qualitative projects relating to health and social care.

Prior to joining the Trust Nina worked as a Policy Officer leading on NHS finances at NHS Providers, and as Coordinator for the Obesity Health Alliance (a coalition group comprising over 30 royal medical colleges and national charities). She has special interests in adult social care, children and young people, and mental health.

Abstract

Social care in England is struggling to meet the needs of an increasingly complex and ageing society, and in the face of successive local authority budget cuts, a sustainable and equitable long-term funding and delivery system remains elusive. In anticipation of the Government’s long-awaited green paper, the Nuffield Trust conducted research on Japan’s long-term care insurance system to inject new ideas and potential solutions into the debate.

In this seminar I offer an overview of the Japanese long-term care insurance system and highlight points of policy learning for England, drawn from our research published earlier this year: What can England learn from the long-term care system in Japan?. The report draws on interviews and observations carried out during a study visit to Japan in October 2017, as well as a literature review and the insights from a previous study visit.

What lessons can be drawn from a country that has demonstrated it is possible to achieve fundamental social care reform, despite formidable demographic, economic and social pressures? While reform has not been without its difficulties, our research suggests valuable lessons to be gleaned in terms of:

1. Securing public buy-in
2. Controlling demand: embedding flexibility
3. Shaping provision: the national fee schedule
4. Workforce pressures
5. Navigating the system
6. Investing in prevention

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