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Delayed discharges in the non-acute and mental health sectors

  • Last modified date:
    5 November 2007

Following the success of health and social care partners in reducing delayed transfers of care in acute services, the Department of Health has set up a project to consider the practical steps, support materials and policy levers (including reimbursement) to secure effective discharge practice in non-acute and mental health services.

In part, this reflects concerns raised with the Department that, because the reimbursement arrangements do not extend to those areas, mental health and non-acute patients may currently be disadvantaged in terms of attention and resources.

Data Collection

From April 2006, weekly Situation Reports (SitReps) have been extended to include a requirement to report delayed transfers of care in all non-acute and mental health NHS trusts.  Any attempt to improve discharge practice is dependent on robust data to establish the scale of delays and the basis for action.

At present approximately two thirds of general non-acute and mental health trusts are reporting delayed discharges on a weekly basis.  Although initial data is still settling down, the general trend of reported delays indicates:

  • Approximately 10% of patients in general non-acute beds are experiencing a delayed discharge, and;
  • Approximately 9% of patients in mental health beds are experiencing a delayed discharge.

It is important that all Trusts return this data as soon as possible, since actions to improve discharge practice are dependent on this information base.

Good Practice Guides

Good practice for discharge guides are currently under production for non-acute and mental health trusts.  The guides are being produced by the Care Services Improvement Partnership, and will be similar in format to the existing acute guide (available through hospital discharge training).

No date has yet been set for publication of the guides; work is ongoing and we hope to be able to publish later in the year.

Extending Reimbursement

No decision has yet been made on whether to extend the reimbursement legislation to mental health and/or non-acute settings.

What Happens Next?

We will provide updates on progress on this website, including more detailed data on existing delayed discharge trends as they become available.

Once a Ministerial decision has been made on the direction of policy to improve discharge practice in non-acute and mental health settings, this will also be published on the website.

Comments and Queries

Should you have any comments on the above or queries on delayed discharge/reimbursement policy in general, please contact the Delayed Discharges e-mailbox at delayeddischarges@dh.gsi.gov.uk.

Pre-Consultation Event Reports

In September 2005, the Department held a series of pre-consultation events to debate how to improve discharge practice in the non-acute and mental health sectors.  The reports below set out the main themes of those discussions.

Additional links

Integrated Care Network (ICN)

The ICN aims to help frontline organisations to work together to deliver flexible services that help people to remain in control and live independent lives. If you work with services in the health, local government or independent sectors then this website is for you.

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