Following a
successful efficiency drive, the Department of Health is able to
make an extra £162 million available to local health and care
services to spend this financial year on front line services,
Health Secretary Andrew Lansley announced today.
The extra money will be spent on helping people to leave hospital
more quickly, get settled back at home with the support they need,
and to prevent unnecessary admissions to hospital.
The funding will bring forward the plans being put in place by
health and local authorities to work together using NHS funding to
support social care, as announced in the spending review. It will
also enable local services to respond to pressures this winter.
Health Secretary Andrew Lansley said:
"Savings have been made in the Department of Health’s
budget which can now be invested in frontline NHS services.
"It’s really important, particularly at this time of
year, that we help people to leave hospital as quickly as they
can, when they are ready. The latest figures show that 2,575 beds
are unavailable due to delayed transfers of care.
"Older people often need particular support after a
spell in hospital to settle back into their homes, recover their
strength and regain their independence. This money will enable the
NHS and social care to work better together for the benefit of patients.
"This additional investment for health and care services
is the result of determination to deliver savings, maintain
quality and invest in services that matter to patients and their
families and carers during the critical winter season."
The money will be allocated to Primary Care Trusts, for them to
transfer to councils to spend on social care support. Primary Care
Trusts and local authorities will decide how best to use the
additional funding to make the greatest impact on relieving
additional pressures on hospitals over the winter period.
Examples of the kinds of services that could be invested in are:
* additional short-term residential care places, or respite and
intermediate care;
* more capacity for home care support, investment in
equipment, adaptations and telecare;
* investment in crisis response teams and other preventative
services to avoid unnecessary admission to hospital; and
* further investment in reablement and rehabilitation
services, to help people regain their independence and reduce the
* need for ongoing care. PCTs and councils have already
received additional funding this year to expand reablement
services.
There will be further long-term investment in occupational
therapists, who are vital to reablement and rehabilitation
services, and homecare equipment services which support people to
live at home independently.
The extra £162 million funding is in addition to the previously
announced £70 million that the NHS will spend this year on
reablement services, and there will be a further provision of £300
million by 2014-15 for continued investment in these vital front
line services.
The Department has made efficiency savings by applying the
controls over central spending on consultancy, IT, administration
and advertising common across all of Government.
Care Services Minster Paul Burstow said:
"By reinvesting these NHS savings in social care we can
offer more help more support to older people leaving hospital.
This investment will also help to kickstart the collaborative
working between the NHS and Councils at the heart of our reforms.
"It is absolutely crucial that the NHS and local
authorities work together to help people leave hospital when they
are ready. The benefits are on all sides - patients get to go home
with the support they and their families need, and hospital beds
are freed up.
"This money will help cut the delays in getting the
equipment and adaptations that people can need to enable them to
live independently at home - saving them from an unnecessary stay
in hospital or going into residential care."
The NHS is already planning on spending an additional £800
million from April on support to social care that benefits health.
This was part of the package of measures in the Spending Review to
provide an additional £2 billion for social care, in recognition
of the importance of these services to hundreds of thousands of families.
Michelle Mitchell, Charity Director at Age UK, said:
"The news that extra money will be made available to
help support people when leaving hospital is very welcome. People
in later life often need additional support when leaving hospital
to ensure their recovery is quick and they do not suffer setbacks
which can lead to readmission.
"With three quarters of NHS patients aged 65 or over, it
is more important than ever that older patients receive the
necessary care and support they need to help increase their rate
of recovery and minimise the rate of readmission which has
increased 69 per cent since 1998/1999 to 2006/2007."
Notes to editors
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Contacts:
Department of Health
Phone: 020 7210 5221
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