The social care budget can be managed if the health service works in partnership with local government, the NHS Confederation has said.
It is feared that potential cuts to social care services will cause elderly people to turn to the NHS for help.
But deputy director of policy, Jo Webber (pictured), said that the health service can get the “the maximum bang for every buck” if they join forces with local councils.
Speaking in Manchester at the National Children and Adult Services Conference, Ms Webber said: “We are concerned about the impact of the current public spending round on social care.
“Many people in local government are also worried about meeting the costs of the care needed to prevent vulnerable people from ending up sick, injured and in hospital.
“But the challenge of difficult financial times is one we simply have to prove equal to.”
By the end of the next four years, health spending will have risen from £104bn to £114bn.
Social care will take an extra £1bn a year from NHS funds as part of an overall £2bn of extra funding every year by 2014/15.
But local councils will experience a 26% cut in funding from central government over the next four years.
And, while health spending will be protected in the immediate future, the NHS is still expected to find “efficiency savings” of £15bn to £20bn.
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