Oral Answers to Questions

Gregory Stafford Excerpts

Tuesday 20th October 2026 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I call the shadow Minister.

[Gregory Stafford (Farnham and Bordon) (Con)]

Step-down beds in community hospitals, such as the Chase community hospital and Haslemere hospital in my constituency, are vital. Unfortunately, neither of those two hospitals is being used for that purpose at the moment. At the same time, delayed discharges have hit an all-time high under this Government. More than 14,000 patients a day are stuck in hospital for two weeks or more after being declared fit to leave—that is up 12% since July last year. Behind every one of those numbers is someone who wants to be at home and an acute bed that another patient desperately needs. Why are the Government failing so abysmally at getting people out of hospital and into care at home?

[Karin Smyth]

As the hon. Gentleman knows, the situation deteriorated massively under the 14 years of Conservative government. He is well aware of the fragmentation of all our services. He knows how the system was fragmented and what happened under those reforms. He knows that is why we are trying to change it. He is absolutely right, though, that people being in beds in hospitals or in parts of the system where they should not be is not good for their health or their outcomes. That is why it is part of our three shifts, and that is fundamentally why the Prime Minister is very clear that we will raise social care up the agenda and ensure that people are treated more in their homes and in community services where they live. I welcome his support for our shift to neighbourhood care and to better care closer to home.