07.12.17
NHS releases delayed discharging funding to councils
NHS Digital has announced a £1.4m pot that will be available for councils to tackle delayed discharge issues, as well as help along integration plans from hospitals into local authority care processes.
Delayed transfers of care are a consistently reported issue in the health and care sector. The National Audit Office (NAO) reported that there was an estimated £820m gross cost to the NHS in 2016 due to approximately 2.7 million older patients in hospital who no longer required acute treatment, leading to 1.15 million hospital bed days lost.
In response, NHS Digital has opened applications for authorities with adult social care responsibilities to work with at least one of their NHS partners to create integrated digital assessment, discharge and withdrawal notices (ADW).
“Local authorities and their NHS partners have a huge challenge ahead of them in tackling the steadily worsening problems caused by delayed transfers of care, so that patients can be supported back into their own homes and regain their independence as quickly as possible,” explained Tom Denwood, director of data and integration at NHS Digital.
“These issues impact on the NHS, the patients and their carers, especially during the winter months when demand on public health services increases.
“We know that technology has the potential to speed up the discharge process by integrating the health and social care IT systems, and we are here to support both local government and the wider NHS to help make this happen.”
The current, non-digital systems in place to handle ADWs have been identified by both local authorities and health partners as one of the stumbling blocks to the transfer of care – which is one of the central issues currently slowing the progress of efficiency targets.
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