PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Social Services: Finance (3 September 2020)

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether it was Government policy to link the increase in social care funding allocated to local councils during the covid-19 outbreak to the transfer of (a) untested and (b) covid-19 positive patients from hospitals to care homes.

Asked by:
Mr Richard Holden (Conservative)

It is our priority to ensure that everyone receives the right care, in the right place, at the right time.

We have never made it a requirement nationally that additional funding for care homes was conditional on care homes accepting discharged patients.

As set out in the Adult Social Care Action Plan on 15 April, all patients are required to be tested prior to discharge to a care home. The Adult Social Care Action Plan is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-adult-social-care-action-plan

This is an unprecedented global pandemic and at every stage we have been guided by the latest scientific advice. We keep our policies under continuous review, based on the emerging international and domestic evidence.

Answered by:
Helen Whately (Conservative)
14 September 2020