The findings – amid claims from senior NHS figures that “we are going backwards in many places” – come as ministers face calls to provide an urgent injection of extra cash to local councils to avoid services buckling under increasing financial pressure.

The Tory chair of the Commons select committee on health, Sarah Wollaston, said ministers should act immediately to prevent more suffering for elderly people, their families and other patients.

She also demanded all-party talks on the future of the NHS and social care. “We are at a tipping point,” she said. “We are seeing indications of the great stresses in the system and these need addressing now.”

Underfunded and overstretched – the crisis in care for the elderly
The Observer’s investigation reveals that the landmark government scheme designed to relieve the strain on overcrowded hospitals – the Better Care Fund – is failing to deliver its aims of keeping older people healthy at home and so cutting “bedblocking”, despite £4bn a year being poured into it.

Theresa May and the health secretary, Jeremy Hunt, have repeatedly claimed that the fund, and a separate policy of allowing councils to raise more money for social care by increasing council tax, are jointly addressing the spiralling problems in social care.

Responses to freedom of information requests submitted to 151 local councils reveal that in England 58% of targets for improving care in people’s homes and local communities were missed.