Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 20
20
Deferred
We asked the Department what the £500 million Adult Social Care Discharge Fund would achieve.
Recommendation
We asked the Department what the £500 million Adult Social Care Discharge Fund would achieve. It informed us this funding would be used primarily for measures to support discharge from hospitals into social care, with an expectation that much would be focussed on the domiciliary care workforce.73 The Department also noted this funding would be used differently in different places, and that it was for local authority and NHS partners within ICSs to decide, through place-based decision-making, how best to deploy resources for the greatest impact in their areas.74 62 Qq 74, 78, 88–90 63 HM Treasury, Autumn Statement 2022, 17 November 2022 64 Q 104, C&AG’s Report, para 2.35–2.36, ICS0012 65 C&AG’s Report, para 2.37, Q104 66 Q 133, C&AG’s Report, para 2.37 67 Q 104 68 Q 104, C&AG’s Report, para 3.9 69 C&AG’s Report, para 2.38 70 Q 104 71 ICS0013 72 C&AG’s Report, para 2.36, ICS0012 73 Q 134–136 74 Q 137 16 Introducing Integrated Care Systems
Government Response Summary
The government provided £500 million to support safe discharge from hospital into social care and will publish joint plans from local authorities and NHS integrated care boards shortly; it will provide more detailed analysis and findings of the fund's evaluation in summer 2023.
Government Response
Deferred
HM Government
Deferred
3.5 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: July 2023 3.6 The government provided £500 million for 2022-23 to support timely and safe discharge from hospital into social care. Analysis of the impact of the discharge fund is not yet available as it is still being delivered. 3.7 All local authorities and NHS integrated care boards have contributed to joint plans, on a local authority footprint, which will be published shortly. The department will receive final spend reports in May 2023, which will allow it to carry out detailed analysis. The department is committed to evaluation of the fund, with findings available in summer 2023. 3.8 This means that the government will not be able to provide the requested information by the end of March 2023. The government will instead aim to write to the Committee with the requested information by the end of July 2023.