UK health leaders question impact of cash for speeding hospital discharges
Health leaders on Monday welcomed a promise by the UK government to spend up to £250mn to speed up the discharge of hospital patients, easing pressure on the country’s struggling NHS, but questioned how much impact funding could have so far into the winter.
Senior medics and NHS workers have in recent weeks voiced alarm over the effect of staff shortages, rising flu and Covid cases and industrial action on patient safety. Officials from the Royal College of Emergency Medicine have estimated that between 300 and 500 deaths occur each week due to delays in emergency care.
Health secretary Steve Barclay said that the government would “block book beds” to speed up the discharge of around 2,500 medically fit patients from hospitals into community settings such as care homes.
Citing delays in distributing money from a separate £500mn adult social care discharge fund announced last September, she demanded assurances from ministers that the £200mn would be distributed immediately.
Nigel Edwards, chief executive of the Nuffield Trust, said Barclay had offered a short-term “sticking plaster” but the fundamental focus needed to be on “creating a more sustainable social care provider system”.
This story originally appeared on: Financial Times - Author:Hannah Kuchler
