Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the cost to the public purse was of the NHS accommodating patients who cannot be discharged due to the lack of disabled housing in each of the last five years.

The amount spent by the National Health Service on healthcare for patients who have been unable to leave hospital due to a lack of adequate adapted housing in each of the last five years is not collected centrally. Similarly, the cost to the NHS of accommodating patients who cannot be discharged due to a lack of disabled housing is not collected centrally.

However, the Government publishes monthly data on the number of delayed transfers of care, broken down by the reason for delay. The latest available information can be found at:

www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/06/June-17-DTOC-SPN.pdf

It shows that, in June 2017, the number of delayed days attributable to the two categories for reason for delayed days which most closely align to the requested information – ‘Awaiting community equipment and adaptations’ and ‘Housing - patients not covered by NHS and Community Care Act’ - form only a small proportion (approximately 5%) of overall delayed days.