Hospitals: Delayed Discharges

Baroness Winterton of Doncaster Excerpts

Monday 9th February 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Blake of Leeds (Lab)]

The noble Lord raises the importance of the Casey review, but we are not standing still waiting for the noble Baroness, Lady Casey, to report. We are making progress towards building a national care service, with around £4.6 billion of additional funding available for adult social care by 2028-29 compared with 2025-26. All of us in this Chamber know how important improving social care is. We are not going to improve the system until we move forward on this and make sure that we get the best services for our frail and elderly in particular.

[Baroness Winterton of Doncaster (Lab)]

My Lords, it is true that this is a very long-standing problem. When I was Health Minister, I spent quite a lot of time looking at how we could improve the services. The multi-disciplinary team was key, but the other key element, which this report highlights, is getting assessments done early, particularly of the home, to ascertain what specialist equipment is needed and get it installed. Can my noble friend the Minister take up the issue of good practice in that respect, and look at where those early assessments have been particularly effective and how we can spread that best practice?

[Baroness Blake of Leeds (Lab)]

I am grateful to my noble friend. I am particularly grateful as I was very active in Leeds, which has a practice going far back that is recognised as one of the foremost in the country in terms of the Home First model. I am delighted to say that it has been picked up by others. Bringing together all the agencies that we have discussed before helps in that process. The early indications are good: a 28% reduction in length of stay and a 7.1-day reduction in rehab. All those elements are critical. It is possible to do this, and we need to replicate good practice wherever we find it.