Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department plans to take in the event that social care systems are placed in Operational Pressures Escalation Levels (a) 3 and (b) 4.

Operational Pressures Escalation Levels (OPEL) is a method used by the NHS to measure the stress, demand, and pressure a hospital is under. OPEL is not used to measure the stress, demand, and/or pressure a social care system is under.

Local authorities are responsible for meeting eligible social care needs for people in their local area. The Department’s regional assurance team works with local authorities to assess and anticipate risks in local areas. If a Trust is raised to OPEL 3 or 4, the Department will provide support to ensure that the local social care system will work effectively with the Trust to manage demand. We also monitor pressures in the adult social care sector through the Capacity Tracker which collects data on workforce, PPE status, and vaccine uptake for COVID-19 and flu. The Department shares data via its dashboard to ensure that systems are prepared if pressures on services become high. If a Trust is raised to OPEL 3 or 4, any potential resulting pressures on social care could be reflected in these monitoring systems.