Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will request an update from (a) NHS Improvement, (b) NHS England and (c) relevant local authorities on the work they are (i) individually and (ii) collectively undertaking to ensure the timely discharge of medically fit patients from Shropshire’s acute hospitals.

The Department is working with NHS England and NHS Improvement, local government and social care providers to monitor and address the underlying causes of delayed discharges. We continue to explore options to minimise delays to hospital discharge, including identifying capacity to accommodate people who no longer need acute hospital care while continuing to need other forms of support.

The National Health Service regional team in Shropshire, Telford, and Wrekin is increasing social work capacity in the accident and emergency department at Shropshire and Telford Hospitals NHS Trust. Additional support being developed to ensure people are referred into social prescribing as appropriate and ‘step-up’ and ‘step-down’ care provision through the Short-Term Assessment and Rehabilitation Team.