The ‘only answer' to the problems facing adult social care is to bring care services into the NHS, Greater Manchester's mayoral hopeful Andy Burnham has argued.

Speaking at a conference sponsored by Capacity Grid and supported by The MJ, the former health secretary said: ‘If you let social care collapse, it, in the end, will drag the health service down with it.

‘The only answer to the 21st century and the century of the aging society is to bring social care fully into the National Health Service, to develop the idea of one service for the whole person. No silos anymore.'

Mr Burnham called for an end to a situation where one organisation looked after physical health, another mental health and another adult social care needs.

He continued: ‘I believe you have got to go to a single service for the whole person and all of their needs, and that is what I want to build here in Greater Manchester, a national health and care service.'

But he added: ‘I do believe in the "N" in NHS. The national matters. People's entitlement shouldn't be devolved. We should all get the same standard of care.'