Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to his Department's press release entitled '£200 million to boost NHS resilience and care this winter', published 14 September 2023, if he will provide additional resources to local authorities to support hospital discharge and reablement services.

This Government is investing an additional £600 million this year, and £1 billion next year through the Discharge Fund. This funding will enable the National Health Service and local authorities to reduce discharge delays, including by commissioning additional packages of care and support for rehabilitation and reablement.

In September, alongside the £200 million to boost resilience in the NHS, we announced a £40 million fund, targeted at local authorities in the most challenged NHS systems. This fund will strengthen urgent and emergency care resilience and performance this winter by preventing avoidable admissions or by reducing discharge delays.