Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 12
12
Accepted
Short-term hospital discharge funding shows positive impact but avoids systemic issues.
Recommendation
With regard to additional funding for hospital discharge—£600 million in 2023– 24 and £1 billion in 2024–25—the Department told us that delayed discharges had been consistently lower over the last 6 months than the previous year despite an increase in emergency admissions. The Department said that the best measure of whether money had been well spent was “supported discharges” – the number of people being discharged with a package of social care or community care. We heard that supported discharges were 17% higher at the end of December 2023 than December 2022.25 In written evidence, Mencap cautioned that one-off discharge funds like this do not tackle the systemic funding issues facing social care.26
Government Response Summary
The government states the recommendation is implemented, highlighting £8.6 billion in additional funding for adult social care and discharge over 2023-25, which has supported increased provider fee rates and supported discharges. They are also implementing significant assurance processes for new grant funding and enhancing transparency and accountability through various bodies.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
2.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Recommendation implemented 2.2 Since Spending Review 2021, the government has made available up to £8.6 billion in additional funding over 2023-24 and 2024-25 for adult social care and discharge. This funding has directly supported an 8.9% average increase in fee rates paid to providers in 2023-24 (which is greater than inflationary pressures), and a 10% increase in the number of supported discharges for patients assessed as no longer meeting the criteria to reside from February 2023 to February 2024. As the most recent State of Care Report shows, data from the CQC Market Oversight scheme indicates that provider profit margins are generally low on average, and we continue to engage CQC to understand whether funding uplifts result in any change in margins. 2.3 The department is undertaking significant assurance of new grant funding, requiring local authorities to report on performance against priorities, and requiring local authorities and ICBs to submit detailed spending plans for their discharge funding for 2023-24 and 2024-25. 2.4 The department works alongside the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities to provide scrutiny and assurance of funding, as well as ensuring transparency to support local accountability. This includes the recent introduction of the Office for Local Government, assurance by the CQC, and reforms to the collection and availability of data on social care activity.