Source · Select Committees · Health and Social Care Committee
Recommendation 17
17
Acknowledged
Inadequate adult social care system imposing significant costs on the NHS, particularly from delayed discharges
Conclusion
Social care is a vital public service in and of itself and should not be valued only for how it supports the NHS. However, the current state of adult social care is imposing significant costs on the NHS. The best estimate we found was that delayed discharges alone are costing almost £1.9 billion. This does not account for other costs such as postponed procedures or admissions that could have been prevented by better social care. If DHSC is to make the best case to HM Treasury for investment in reform of adult social care, it needs to have better data on the impact the status quo is having on one of the Government’s top domestic priorities. (Conclusion, Paragraph 100)
Government Response Summary
The government agrees that publishing cost estimates for delayed discharges would in principle improve transparency but notes methodological challenges. It commits to exploring how best to publish such data, without a firm commitment to immediately produce the comprehensive data requested by the committee.
Government Response
Acknowledged
HM Government
Acknowledged
We agree that publishing cost estimates broken down by delay reason would in principle improve transparency about the impact of delayed discharges. There are some methodological challenges involved in estimating costs attributable to delayed discharge, with any estimate necessarily relying on a number of assumptions rather than providing a precise attributable amount. We will explore how best to publish cost data with these caveats.