09 January 2023 , 16:27
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Around 3,000 hospital patients will be moved into care homes, privately-run hospitals and even hospices within weeks to ease strain on England's stricken NHS.
In a statement to Parliament, Health Secretary Steve Barclay confirmed the emergency plan to free up beds - as he blamed a surge of flu cases.
He admitted: "I and the Government regret the experience for some patients and staff in emergency care has not been acceptable in recent weeks."
But he was blasted by council leaders for announcing “tacked-on” funding - and making a winter emergency plan midway through winter.
The £200million pot that will fund the plan is having to be taken from existing Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) budgets.
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Health Secretary Steve Barclay said: "I and the Government regret the experience for some patients and staff in emergency care has not been acceptable in recent weeks"Local councils will be given allocations of how many beds need to be "block-booked" in community settings - but the allocations and funding per area have not yet been confirmed.
It’s thought there will be a further update in the coming days.
Separately, the CQC watchdog will cut its number of inspections to free up staff on the frontline, and there will be more focus on 'virtual wards' treating people at home.
But Tory ex-minister Sir Edward Leigh blasted in the Commons: "What is our long-term plan?
“We can't leave the Labour Party to have a long-term plan and we don't.
“People of my age pay taxes all their life and their only right is enjoying the back of a two-year queue."
Rishi Sunak was forced to deny the Government left it too late to take action - as experts fear the £200m pot to ease the NHS crisis will flop because of a lack of staff.
Visiting a community health centre in Leeds, the PM said: "Actually, months ago the Government announced £0.5billion in extra funding to speed up the discharge of people into their communities or back home, where that makes sense.
Rishi Sunak was forced to deny the Government left it too late to take action (PA)“Today's announcement is for even more funding to help support those initiatives."
Shadow Health Secretary Wes Streeting said the winter plan in January was “too little too late” and the “collapse could be seen coming from a mile away”.
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“The NHS is in crisis - the biggest crisis in its history,” he told MPs. “The only people who can’t see it are the government.”
“What has been announced today is yet another sticking plaster when the NHS needs fundamental reform.”
Mr Streeting pointed out talks with NHS unions today had broken up after just “45 minutes of lip service” adding: “If patients suffer further strike action, they will know exactly who to blame”.
“The PM might not rely on the NHS but millions of ordinary people do. They are sick and tired of waiting.”
Shadow Health Secretary Wes Streeting said the winter plan in January was “too little too late” and the “collapse could be seen coming from a mile away”Royal College of Nursing England director Patricia Marquis added: “The lack of beds in social care isn't really the problem, it's the lack of staff.
“Without investment in staff, providing more facilities - whether it's more beds in care homes or hospitals - won't make a difference.
“Nursing staff are leaving the profession in their droves and pay is a key factor. To halt the exodus, ministers must pay them fairly."
The funding will be used to buy placements in community settings, such as care homes, hospices, or independent sector hospitals, of up to four weeks per patient until the end of March.
Downing Street said the funding should initially create at least 3,000 new places, and could later create more - as 13,000 people are in hospital beds in England that could be discharged into the community.
Care England chief executive Professor Martin Green: "A lot of the challenges we face are because successive governments have failed to find a proper approach to social care.
“What we're seeing now is the fact that people are going into crisis and then going into hospital.
“So what this new money might do is it might alleviate an immediate problem but it will not get to the long-term root cause of the issues."
Mr Barclay said this has been the "worst flu season for 10 years" and flu season "came early and came quickly", hitting in November.
He said this time last year there were just 50 people in hospitals with flu, while this week there are 5,100.
"The timing of our flu season has combined with high levels of Covid admissions in hospital and the pandemic legacy of high delayed discharges to put real strain on frontlines services,” he said.
He admitted emergency departments were “too congested” and more had to be done now.
Six areas will also be made ‘Discharge Frontrunners’ to look at long-term “innovations to help get people out of hospital and back home”.
They are the Sussex Health and Care Integrated Care System, Northern Care Alliance, Humber and North Yorkshire Integrated Care System, One Croydon Alliance, Leeds Health and Care Partnership, and Warwickshire Place.
David Fothergill of the Local Government Association said: “A decade of consistent underfunding of social care and underinvestment in community health services has led us into this crisis.
“It will not be fixed through tacked-on funding that fails to address any of the root causes of this situation.
“Councils recognise the immediate issue of pressures on hospitals and the desire to expand capacity through use of care home beds.
“It is important that any beds purchased by the NHS must be clearly earmarked as short term recovery beds and have full wrap around support to support people to get home as quickly as possible.”