THE NHS is under unbearable pressure because of the “failure of successive governments to fix social care,” a senior care leader warned today.

Professor Martin Green, chief executive of Care England, which represents independent adult social care providers, said that ministers “never ever understand that they should learn from their mistakes.”

The damning intervention followed Tory Health Secretary Steve Barclay’s announcement of plans to spend up to £200 million on buying thousands of extra care home beds to speed up the discharge of hospital patients amid spiralling A&E waiting times.