Extra funding to help tackle 'bed-blocking' is failing to get through to the NHS, trust leaders have warned in a new report out today.
Winter Warning found that leaders of NHS trusts in England are 'deeply concerned' that the £1bn extra social care funding promised by the Government is not getting through to help ease winter pressure on the health service.
The survey found that only 28% of NHS trusts said they have had a specific commitment from their local authority that the funding would help reduce delayed transfers of care. Nearly half (44%) thought the money would have no impact on their ability to manage winter pressures, while 91% reported a lack of capacity in social care.
Only 57% of the trusts surveyed said they are confident they will be able to deliver safe and high quality care this winter.
The report is calling on the Government to inject £350m funding by the end of July to help deliver extra beds, pay for more staff, strengthen mental health crisis care and enable the ambulance service to take more of the patient load.
The chief executive of NHS Providers, Chris Hopson, said: 'What is clear from our survey and detailed conversations with frontline trusts is that the Government’s plan of trying to gain a double benefit from the Budget’s extra £1bn social care funding is not going to work consistently enough. Trusts say the NHS has about a month to plug the gap.
'We are calling for an additional £350m to give targeted support, distributed to those areas where social care funding will have little or no impact on the NHS. This would allow the NHS to put in place extra beds in community and mental health services as well as hospitals whilst also enabling the ambulance service to deal with more patients. The investment would also help pay for the higher number of temporary doctors, nurses and care home staff we know the NHS will need. And it could be used to strengthen mental health crisis care to prevent hospital admissions.
'There will be no single right answer for the use of this money, but decisions would be taken locally to suit particular needs.'
