Health: Housing

(asked on 19th January 2023) - View Source

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will put in place a requirement that where a person has been admitted to hospital due to the effects of (a) damp, cold, or mould in their home or (b) malnutrition, those issues are tackled before or when that patient is discharged from hospital; and if he will take steps with his Cabinet colleagues to require (i) local authorities and (ii) social housing providers to resolve such issues as part of that process.


Answered by
Helen Whately Portrait
Helen Whately
Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
This question was answered on 26th January 2023

Anyone requiring formal care and support to help them recover following their discharge from hospital should receive an initial safety and welfare check on the day of discharge to ensure basic safety and care needs are met and allow time for fuller assessments to take place as the person settles in their environment. Last year, the Government announced the £500 million adult social care discharge fund to support timely and safe discharge from hospital into the community by reducing the number of people delayed in hospital awaiting social care.

The fund can be used flexibly by local health and care systems to respond to local system need and can be spent on a wide range of activities. This could include measures to make housing fit for discharge when this can be shown to enable more people to be discharged to an appropriate setting.

In addition, the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities wrote to all social housing providers on 19 November 2022, reminding them that all social housing must meet the Decent Homes Standard and urging them to undertake prompt action when tenants complain about damp and mould.

Reticulating Splines