Department of Health: Budget

Lord Laming Excerpts

Thursday 6th December 2012 Lords Chamber

[Earl Howe]

My noble friend makes an extremely important point. He will know that the Government have made it clear that mental health problems should be treated as seriously as physical health problems. That commitment has now been made explicit in the Health and Social Care Act 2012. As he mentioned, the Government’s mandate to the NHS Commissioning Board explicitly recognises the importance of putting mental health on a par with physical health. It tasks the NHS Commissioning Board with developing a collaborative programme of action to achieve that and it will be held to account accordingly.

[Lord Laming]

My Lords, does the Department of Health and its Ministers monitor the number of people who today are in hospital and whose treatment is being completed, but who are there because alternative arrangements have not been made for them?

[Earl Howe]

Yes, my Lords. As the noble Lord will know, the problem of delayed transfers of care is not new. We have seen a drop in delayed transfers in terms of the number of days but there has been a levelling off in recent years. However, it is up to the NHS and social care services to collaborate to ensure that proper and appropriate community services are available to patients when they are discharged from hospital. That planning process begins the moment the patient enters hospital.