Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 9
9
On 17 March the NHS told trusts to discharge urgently all medically fit hospital patients...
Conclusion
On 17 March the NHS told trusts to discharge urgently all medically fit hospital patients with COVID-19 to maximise inpatient and critical care capacity. On 2 April, the Department told care homes that they needed to make their full capacity available and could admit patients with COVID-19 by isolating suspected or confirmed cases. Some Local Authorities were pressurising Care Homes to take patients discharged from hospitals.19 Yet until 15 April there was no policy to test patients for COVID-19 before discharging them to care homes. By this point 25,000 people had been discharged from hospitals to care homes and the Department does not know how many had COVID-19.20
Government Response
Not Addressed
HM Government
Not Addressed
2.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Ta rget implementation date: Spring 2021 2.2 Although the department agrees with the Committee’s recommendation, it disagrees with the Committee’s conclusion. 2.3 The department provided an update to the Chair on 7 October. NHS England and NHS Improvement wrote to the Committee on 30 October 2020. 2.4 The department will ask the SAGE Care Homes Working Group to keep the emerging evidence on discharge under review and will update the Committee as further evidence becomes available. 2.5 As set out in the Adult Social Care Action Plan on 15 April, and the Adult Social Care Winter Plan on 18 September 2020, all individuals are required to be tested prior to discharge from hospital to a care home and no provider should be forced to admit an existing or new resident if they are unable to cope with the impact of the person’s COVID-19 illness safely. Local authorities remain responsible for providing alternative accommodation as appropriate in local systems and the costs of providing alternative accommodation are covered by the discharge funding provided via the NHS. 2.6 The response to recommendation 2b outlines additional measures the department has implemented to ensure discharges are as safe as possible.