Coffey's £500m fund to get people out of hospital into care 'step in right direction'

Health and Social Care Secretary Thérèse Coffey has launched a £500m Adult Social Care Discharge Fund to free up hospital beds and help fix the social care crisis.

There are currently 13,000 patients in hospitals in England who could be receiving care in the community and the Adult Social Care Discharge Fund will help speed up the safe discharge of patients from hospital as well as helping to retain and recruit more care workers.

Deputy Prime Minister and Secretary of State for Health and Social Care Thérèse Coffey said: “Patients and those who draw on care and support are my top priority and we will help them receive care as quickly and conveniently as possible.”

The fund is part of the government’s new Our Plan for Patients to improve care for people this winter and next. The Plan includes a target so anyone with non-urgent needs sees their GP within two weeks and those with the most urgent needs are seen within the same day.

The Plan also changes pension rules in order to keep more experienced senior clinicians, introduces an enhanced role for pharmacists so they can supply more medicine without prescriptions and proposes a ‘national endeavour’ calling on the one million volunteers who supported the NHS during the pandemic to come forward again.

Cllr Tim Oliver, chairman of the County Councils Network welcomed the announcement of an extra £500m and called it a “step in the right direction”.

He added: “This will enable local authorities, working with the NHS, to ensure that people can quickly access care in the community whilst reducing pressure on the health service.”

Extra funding 'falls short of what is required'

However he warned that “with councils facing £3.7bn in inflationary costs this year and next, today’s announcement falls short of what is required. This funding will assist with hospital discharges, but will not address other issues within the care system, such as over 500,000 people on care waiting lists, chronic staff shortages with over 160,000 vacancies, and major concerns that the introduction of reforms next year could exacerbate these financial and workforce pressures.”

Ms Coffey did say the £500m is a “down payment” ahead of spending more on adult social care in the coming years. “With care services under severe strain now, it is vital that the government provides clarity as soon as possible on how much extra social care will receive, and when – and provides this funding direct to councils,” said Cllr Oliver.

Sally Warren, director of policy at The King’s Fund, thinks the plan is no more than a tinkering around the edges, saying: "A short-term, short-notice pot of cash is not going to help social care services to address unmet need, improve quality of care, or recruit and retain more staff."

Dr Ben Maruthappu, chief executive of home care provider, Cera, echoed the County Councils Network, calling the funding "a step in the right direction in establishing greater levels of parity between the two" but said the government "also needs to address poor pay and fuel reimbursement conditions for carers". He also welcomed the government's commitment to supporting the social care sector to make the switch from paper to digital records.

Funding will only 'plug holes in that part of the system'

Caroline Abrahams, charity director for Age UK expressed disappointment with the Plan saying: “We understand the need to address patient flow in hospitals and the focus on speeding up discharges. However, the risk is that today's measures plug holes in that part of the system but make them worse in others. Older people in need of care who live at home and who are not coming out of hospital could have to wait longer, for example, if more resource is targeted towards care post discharge, and away from that in the community.

"£500 million to social care to support discharge should make a welcome difference to older people waiting to leave hospital, but it won't help those living at home who are in need of care, who are likely to find themselves further back in the queue. To make a sustained difference and help everyone with care needs, we need to expand the capacity of the care system, and the numbers working in it."

The Independent Care Group (ICG) warned the £500m "will not even touch the sides".

“Of course, every penny that gets to social care is welcome but really this sum is a little derisory,” said ICG chair Mike Padgham.

“The government has woefully under-estimated the depth of the crisis in social care and announcing this £500m as if it were the answer to our prayers is insulting.

'Sticking plaster put on a gaping wound'

“This is a sticking plaster put on a gaping wound by a doctor that doesn’t see how sick the patient is."

Local health and care partners will be able to decide how best to use the £500m social care funding to improve hospital discharge, and to retain and recruit social care staff.

The government is also giving funding of £15 million to enable local areas to support care providers to recruit more care workers from abroad with help with visa processing, accommodation and pastoral support for international recruits.

Prime Minister Liz Truss said: "On the steps of Downing Street this month, I pledged that one of my earliest priorities as Prime Minister would be to put our health and care system on a firm footing.

“These measures are the first part of that plan and will help the country through the winter and beyond. Ultimately my mission in government is to grow our economy, because that is the best way to support the NHS and social care system and ensure patients are receiving the frontline services they deserve."