£500m Adult Social Care Discharge Fund created as part of sector’s winter plans

In her first major intervention in her new role, Health and Social Care Secretary and Deputy Prime Minister Thérèse Coffey yesterday unveiled (22 September 2022) the UK Government’s anticipated winter plans.

As part of the new plan to improve patient care this winter and beyond, titled ‘Our Plan for Patients’, a £500 million Adult Social Care Discharge Fund has been created to help people get out of hospitals and into social care support.

The Adult Social Care Discharge Fund will help speed up the safe discharge of patients from hospital this winter to free up beds as well as helping to retain and recruit more care workers, according to the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC). Local health and care partners will be able to decide how best to use the social care funding to improve hospital discharge, and to retain and recruit social care staff.

With 13,000 patients in beds who should be receiving care in the community, this will improve the flow in emergency departments and help reduce ambulance delays, Thérèse stated.

The plan also sets out interventions to improve access to general practice appointments, with the expectation that everyone who needs one should get an appointment at a GP practice within two weeks. Patients with the most urgent needs should be seen within the same day under the new winter plans.

As well as more support staff, an enhanced role for pharmacists, and new telephone systems, changes will also be made to NHS pension rules to retain more experienced NHS clinicians and remove the barriers to staff returning from retirement, increasing capacity for appointments and other services.

This includes extending retirement flexibilities to allow retired and partially retired staff to continue to return to work or increase their working commitments without having payment of their pension benefits reduced or suspended, and fixing the unintended impacts of inflation, so senior clinicians aren’t taxed more than is necessary.

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.

“That is why we are publishing Our Plan for Patients, which will help empower and inform people to live healthier lives, while boosting the NHS’ performance and productivity.

“It sets out a range of commitments for our health service, ensuring we create smoother pathways for patients in all parts of health and care.

Alongside the winter plan, Thérèse Coffey is starting an initiative to encourage more volunteering across the NHS to facilitate better patient care, such as volunteers to help ambulance services in the areas of greatest need.

Funding of £15 million this year is also designed to increase international recruitment of care workers, DHSC highlights. The funding will enable local areas to support care providers with activities such as visa processing, accommodation, and pastoral support for international recruits. This will complement a national domestic recruitment campaign, which is due to launch “shortly”.

Prime Minister Liz Truss concluded: “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.”