Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential benefits of increasing funding for community provision of rehabilitative and social care.

Rehabilitation and social care services play a fundamental role in reducing the impact of various health conditions, improving outcomes and increasing capacity and operational resilience.

Plans are in place to increase access to rehabilitation and access closer to home. This includes the £200 million Discharge Fund to fund short-term National Health Service step-down care packages, and a commitment to access to digital rehabilitation for those who would benefit from it.

Also, as set out in the ‘Delivery plan for recovering urgent and emergency care services’ published in January, NHS England, working with local authorities and voluntary and community partners, have begun to develop and pilot a new approach to intermediate care, including rehabilitation and reablement support.

To support adult social care and discharge, the Government is making available up to £7.5 billion in additional funding over two years, with up to £2.8 billion available in 2023/24 and up to £4.7 billion in 2024/25.