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Debate between Margaret Greenwood and Laurence Robertson(3 years, 1 month ago)
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Margaret Greenwood
Does the hon. Lady share my concerns about the provision in the Health and Care Bill for the assessment of patients to take place after they have been discharged from hospital instead of before, as happens at the moment? I have very serious concerns about that issue. I tabled a couple of parliamentary questions, which were answered by a different Minister to the one who is here in Westminster Hall today. One question was about the fact that this discharge-to-assess approach has been going on under the Coronavirus Act; I asked how many patients had been discharged that way. The reply came back that 4 million patients had been discharged from hospital without having their assessment. I asked how many of those had been readmitted within 30 days; the Minister replied that the Government did not know because the information was not held nationally.
This is a very serious concern, because we are talking about vulnerable people. I know the hon. Member for Beaconsfield is talking about a particular relative. The idea that somebody with dementia, or early-stage dementia that has not been fully diagnosed yet, should be discharged before their needs are fully understood is very alarming. An independent review of this is going on at the moment, and I would be grateful if the Minister could give us an idea when that is going to be published. It is meant to be this autumn. I would like to raise this with the Minister as a very serious issue and wondered if she would like to comment on it.
Mr Laurence Robertson (in the Chair)
Order. I remind hon. Members that interventions need to be brief.