Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the care and discharge planning provided to Mr Ravi Mehta by NHS South East London Integrated Care Board; and what steps they are taking to ensure that, since September 2025, individuals who are medically fit for discharge are not subjected to prolonged hospital stays due to the withdrawal of Personal Health Budgets.

Our statutory hospital discharge and community support guidance, published jointly with NHS England, sets out that integrated care boards (ICBs), and local authorities (LAs) are responsible for planning and delivering local hospital discharge services. Working together, it is for ICBs and LAs to deliver an appropriate support package, based on an individual’s assessed needs, to enable safe discharge. In Mr Mehta’s case, NHS England and NHS South East London ICB continue to work with him, his family, and relevant professionals to support his safe discharge from hospital. All decisions are informed by clinical oversight and governance, in order to arrange safe, effective and appropriate care.

On the wider issue of personal health budgets, the Department and NHS England remain committed to maximising personalisation and choice for all individuals in receipt of NHS continuing healthcare, including through personal health budgets, where appropriate. NHS England’s personal health budget programme focusses on working with ICBs to reduce unwarranted variation in the delivery of personal health budgets, where there is a legal right to have one. A revised personal health budget quality framework is expected to be published by March 2027, to provide greater clarity for ICBs on how to strengthen operational delivery and meet the expectations set out in the 10-Year Health Plan.