Asked by: Ruth Edwards (Conservative - Rushcliffe)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to maximise NHS capacity.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Department continues to focus on recovery of services, as we have throughout the pandemic. The NHS and the Department have sought to maximise availability of capacity by all practical means, including virtual wards, the use of independent sector capacity, a focus on maximising safe discharge, coupled with investment in up to 160 community diagnostic centres, innovation in surgical hubs, and through growing our NHS workforce.
Asked by: Ruth Edwards (Conservative - Rushcliffe)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress the national discharge taskforce has made on improving the rate of discharge of medically fit patients from hospitals in Nottinghamshire.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
We have provided £3.3 billion via the National Health Service (NHS) to facilitate timely hospital discharges over the pandemic, including £478 million this winter. The NHS is working with local authorities and partners to ensure that medically fit patients can be discharged as soon as possible.
The national discharge taskforce has facilitated a national conversation about how to drive progress and support regional and local system arrangements, including in Nottinghamshire, to bring a renewed focus to reducing discharge delays in a sustainable way.