Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what criteria integrated care boards use to determine whether to pay for care for disabled people who are fit for discharge from hospital.

Integrated care boards should work with relevant local partner organisations, including local authorities and other National Health Service bodies to take a person-centred approach when deciding the most appropriate care setting for individuals being discharged from hospital.

Local protocols should be agreed between the relevant partners. These protocols may cover arrangements for discharge services including intermediate care, reablement and rehabilitation, and may also set out arrangements for long-term care assessments, and any associated funding, including for NHS Continuing Healthcare.

Long-term care arrangements should not be made until an individual’s longer-term needs can be assessed accurately.

Departmental statutory guidance published jointly with NHS England on planning and delivering hospital discharge services is available on GOV.UK in an online-only format.