Norfolk will benefit from £10.4 million of additional funding to speed up patient discharge, freeing up hospital beds to reduce ambulance handover times and improving capacity in social care.
The funding is part of the Department of Health and Social Care’s £500 million discharge fund to free up hospital beds through quicker discharge, which will also help reduce ambulance handover times.
Norfolk County Council has been allocated £3,482,232. Norfolk & Waveney Integrated Care Board - the organisation that bring the NHS together locally to improve health in the community – has proposed allocations of £6,963,000 for December and January to deliver support across winter total. Payments will be made in the coming weeks.
Currently 20 per cent of beds in Norfolk and Waveney are occupied by patients who do not need to be there. The discharge fund will get more people cared for in the right place at the right time.
Commenting on the allocations, James said:
“Too many patients at the QEH and other hospitals are there when they would be better cared for at home or in other settings. By ensuring more people are cared for in the right place this new funding should free up beds and help improve ambulance handover delays.”
Norfolk County Council and Norfolk & Waveney ICB will decide how to spend this money on initiatives which will have the greatest impact in their area on reducing discharges into social care, which in most areas will mean prioritising home care. Funding may also be used to boost adult social care workforce capacity, through staff recruitment and retention, where that will help reduce delayed discharges.
