Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she is taking steps to reduce the incidence of delayed discharge of patients from acute hospitals in (a) England and (b) Gloucestershire; and if she will make a statement.

The Government has announced a £500 million Adult Social Care Discharge Fund to accelerate the safe discharge of patients from hospital. Further details of the fund will be available in due course, including local allocations. In addition, NHS England is implementing the ‘100-day discharge challenge’ to reassert best practice through 10 priority activities in all hospitals.

The One Gloucestershire Integrated Care System has placed additional staff in the hospital to home teams and provided additional beds and services in acute and community hospitals. It has been supported by the local authority, which has based social workers in the emergency department and on wards to prevent unnecessary admissions and ensure effective and informed discharge planning. A dedicated team working with people who have a length of stay over 21 days has also been established.