B

Baroness Pitkeathley (Lab)

Speaking in the House of Lords on 21 January 2025

Debate

Health and Social Care: Winter Update

Contribution

My Lords, the Statement mentions 12,000 patients in hospital beds where they do not need to be. The noble Lord, Lord Laming, has rightly drawn attention to the fact that many of those people discharged are dependent on the care provided by their families. In spite of many reports written about the need to plan discharge from hospital—at least one of them written by me 40 years ago—too much discharge still happens at pace and without planning. It is Friday afternoon and suddenly, the consultant needs the bed. Oh, funny that: there is no care available in the local community. Would the Minister agree that all the reports about discharge indicate that you should start planning for discharge the minute the patient is admitted, and that this planning should include those who are going to provide the care, whether that is the voluntary sector or the patient’s own family?

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