Clause 4 - Liability to make delayed discharge payments
Community Care (Delayed Discharge etc.) Bill
4:45 pm
Ms Jacqui Smith (Minister of State, Department of Health; Redditch, Labour)
I accept that carers are quite often experts on the individual circumstances of those people for whom they care—that is why it is extremely important to involve them throughout the process—but if we examine the relationship between delayed discharge and emergency readmissions, we find that there is no correlation between those areas with few delayed discharges and those with many emergency readmissions. In fact, in more than one
third of areas, there are below average rates of both delayed discharge and emergency readmission, showing that it is possible to perform well on both indicators.
However, we take the risk seriously. That is why, first, the revised hospital discharge workbook that we shall issue shortly, and the statutory guidance that we will publish to accompany the Bill will make it clear that discharge must be properly planned and that patients must not be discharged until it is safe to do so.