Andrew Murrison – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Murrison on 2015-11-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate he has made of the proportion of delayed discharges from NHS hospitals due to the absence of community social care provision by local authorities in each year since 2010.

Alistair Burt

NHS England publishes monthly figures on the number of delayed discharges, including whether the delays are attributable to the National Health Service, social care or both.

In the year April 2011 to March 2012, 31% of delays were attributable to social care. In 2012 – 2013 this figure was 28%. In 2013 – 2014 and 2014 – 2015 respectively the figure was 26%. In the six months from April to September 2015, 31% of delays were attributable to social care.

Reducing the number of delays is an important issue, as delays can result in poorer outcomes for patients, interrupted patient flow and further pressure on acute services. Work is on-going across the Department and its arm’s length bodies to tackle this issue, including through the new Emergency Care Improvement Programme, implementation of high impact interventions to improve emergency care, sector-supported work across local government and work with the independent and voluntary sectors.