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)
The hon. Gentleman is harrumphing his approval for that, but I am not convinced that the Bill should state that it is acceptable for local authorities to take a minimum of five days to assess a patient and make services available for them. A patient's inappropriate delay in an acute bed when they are ready to leave does not become any more acceptable simply because it is the weekend or a bank holiday. They are not less likely to lose their confidence or gain an infection because it happens to be a bank holiday, a Saturday or a Sunday.