Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the way that integrated care boards are discharging their responsibility to pay for the care of disabled patients on their discharge from hospital.

The Department’s statutory guidance on hospital discharge and community support, published jointly with NHS England, sets out the responsibilities of integrated care boards (ICBs) and local authorities (LAs) in planning and delivering local hospital discharge services. ICBs are expected to work with relevant local partner organisations, including LAs and other National Health Service bodies, to agree local protocols for individuals being discharged from hospital.

This may cover arrangements for discharge services including intermediate care, reablement, and rehabilitation, as well as set out arrangements for long-term care assessments, and any associated funding including through NHS Continuing Healthcare (CHC).

NHS England holds ICBs accountable for their performance though the NHS Oversight Framework, which is available on the NHS.UK website. In regard to CHC, NHS England holds ICBs accountable and engages with them through a well-established programme of assurance, to ensure they fulfil their duties.