£240m emergency bed fund to ease social care

Health Secretary Matt Hancock has told the Conservative party conference that the government will provide an emergency £240 million to enable more elderly people to be cared for at home.

The social care funding will help councils pay for measures like housing adaptations and care packages and ease pressure on the NHS this winter.

This past January one in five patients faced long delays for a bed, with NHS England figures showing that the number of seriously ill patients facing delays for a bed reached record highs, with 1,000 waiting more than 12 hours.

The £240 million, to be channelled through local authorities according to their relative adult social care needs, could buy 71,500 domestic care packages or 86,500 ‘reablement’ packages.

Other actions being taken to boost support over the winter include: ensuring extended access in primary care is in place across the country, with an additional nine million appointments per year; rolling out NHS 111 Online nationwide; taking action to safely reduce ambulances conveying patients to hospital through increased ‘hear and treat’ and ‘see and treat’; expanding the provision of ‘same day’ emergency care; and setting an ambition to reduced long stays in hospital (over 21 days) by 25 per cent to free up 4,000 beds.

Hancock said: "I want to help the NHS through this winter. I have already provided funding for hospitals to make upgrades to their buildings to deal with pressures this winter, and I can announce that today I am making an extra £240 million available to councils to pay for social care packages this winter to support our NHS.

"We will use this money to get people who don't need to be in hospital, but do need care, back home, back into their communities, so we can free up those vital hospital beds. And help people who really need it get the hospital care they need."

Simon Stevens, NHS England chief executive, added: "Helping patients go home when they are ready is vital to easing pressure on the NHS, particularly busy A&E departments. So, as the government develops a comprehensive social care funding solution, hospitals will rightly welcome this targeted funding to ease pressures on the NHS this winter by paying for extra care packages and care home places for frail older people.

"Over the past 18 months, the NHS and councils have worked together to cut delayed discharges, freeing up 4 hospitals worth of beds across England. This money will allow councils to build on that progress."