Lincolnshire to get £2.5m ‘hospital discharge fund’

Over £2.5 million will be given to Lincolnshire County Council as part of the government’s £500 million discharge fund to reduce pressure on NHS services.

Local allocations for the national funding pot were outlined last week, with the most money being given to areas that face the biggest challenges and delays within NHS services.

It has been designed to speed up hospital processes amid long COVID backlog lists in the healthcare setting, as well as reports of long waiting times in A&E practices and a lack of hospital bed space for patients.

The first payments will be made in the coming weeks, and a second batch of funds will be distributed in January 2023, aiding NHS Integrated Care Boards through the tough winter months.

Of the £500 million detailed by Health and Social Care Secretary Steve Barclay, some £2,806,625 will be handed to Lincolnshire County Council.

£300 million of the overall half a billion fund will be given to Integrated Care Boards across the country to improve bed capacity.

Meanwhile, the remaining £200 million goes to local authorities in order to bolster the social care workforce and increase capacity for taking on patients from hospitals.

Decisions will then be made between LCC and the NHS Lincolnshire ICB on spending across the region, designed around tailored solutions for speeding up discharges from hospital.

A spending report will have to be provided by December 16, along with fortnightly updates, to demonstrate and ensure that the money is being used effectively.

If the Department of Health and Social Care find that the funds are not being utilised to the best of the local authorities’ ability, the second batch of funding for January next year will be withheld.

Speaking at the NHS Providers’ annual conference in Liverpool the Health and Social Care Secretary said: “It is vital that those areas with the biggest challenges are seeing the most funding to help speed up the discharge of patients from hospital.

“In line with our devolved and data-driven approach we will be allowing local areas to determine how best the money is spent to free up beds and support people back into the community.

“This might be through purchasing supportive technology boosting domiciliary care capacity or physiotherapists and occupational therapists to support recovery at home.

“We will also be looking closely at the impact of how funding is used and using this data to inform future decisions around funding”.

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