Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what guidance he has issued to Clinical Commissioning Groups on implementing the four week discharge to assess pathway standard that has been implemented as a result of covid-19.

Discharge funding currently supports up to four weeks of new or additional recovery care depending on the individual needs of the person being discharged. This is described in the discharge policy for all providers and commissioners, which is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/hospital-discharge-service-policy-and-operating-model

There is no four-week standard for discharge practices, as the majority of people do not require additional care at the point of discharge or often require less than four weeks of care.