Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the number of packages of care delivered by the NHS on the number of NHS beds occupied.

NHS England determines overall funding allocations using the integrated care board (ICB) allocation formula. Individual ICBs are responsible for deciding how to use their allocation to deliver their functions, and are statutorily obliged to arrange for services to meet the reasonable requirements of the populations they are responsible for, which includes NHS continuing healthcare and NHS-funded nursing care.

A fully NHS-funded package of health and social care is provided for individuals assessed as having a 'primary health need'. For NHS-funded nursing care, a flat weekly rate is paid to care homes to support the provision of registered nursing for those eligible.