In response to the government statement on discharge funding and NHS winter pressures, CIPFA’s Health and Social Care Policy Manager Eleanor Roy, said:
“Further funding is extremely welcome, but this is yet another temporary solution for the myriad of long-recognised pressures across the health and care sector. This £250 million may help ease the current crisis in acute care, but it will do nothing to alleviate the underlying issues.
“Such a short-term attitude does not meet the aim for ‘sustainable and efficient use of resources’ that was set out in the Health and Care Act 2022. To achieve this, a twin-track approach is needed in order to deal with existing pressures, as well as making long-term investments to ensure the future of the health and care sector.
“The one-size-fits-all method of discharging patients to residential care is unlikely to be effective across all areas – or provide the best outcomes for patients. It also fuels the rhetoric that the onus is on social care to ease pressures on the NHS, which is unhelpful at a time when shared understanding and closer partnerships are vital for integration of the health and care to succeed.”
Notes to Editor:
The government statement on new discharge funding and NHS winter pressures can be found on the Gov.uk website.
CIPFA’s recent publication Integrating Care: policy, principles and practice for places can be found on CIPFA’s website.
For more information, please contact the CIPFA Press Office.