Up to £250 million to speed up hospital discharge

Up to £250 million to speed up hospital discharge Thousands of extra medically fit patients will be discharged from hospitals into community care settings, such as care homes, over the coming weeks to free up hospital beds and reduce pressure on the NHS, the Health and Social Care Secretary Steve Barclay is set to announce today [Monday 9 December].

The government will make available up to £200 million of additional funding to immediately buy short-term care placements to allow people to be discharged safely from hospitals into the community where they will receive the care they need to recover before returning to their homes. Department of Health and Social Care

See also: 

• Record numbers of doctors and nurses working in the NHS to ease pressure over winter Department of Health and Social Care
• PM to hold NHS Recovery Forum at Downing Street Department of Health and Social Care
• Flu cases up almost half in a week as NHS answers near record 111 calls NHS England
• NHS to buy care beds to make space in hospitals BBC News
• PM Rishi Sunak to hold crisis meeting over NHS pressures BBC News
• Gridlock as record number of ambulances queue at A&E BBC News
• NHS hospitals moving patients into hotel to free up beds BBC News
• UK suffers worst flu season for decade as weekly death toll soars to levels not seen since lockdown The Daily Mail
• Care providers ask for doubled fees to care for people discharged from hospitals The Guardian
• Three reasons why politicians can’t solve our social care crisis The Guardian
• £200 million to buy care home beds in bid to ease NHS crisis The Independent
• Rishi Sunak refuses to accept NHS in crisis and won’t say if he uses private GP The Independent
• Health secretary blames flu and COVID for NHS crisis as pressure mounts on government to act Sky News