To ask the Minister of Health, Social Services and Public Safety for his assessment of the additional pressure on hospitals caused by patients that cannot be discharged because of a lack of available places in nursing or care homes.

My Department has set a target for Health and Social Care Trusts that 90% of complex discharges from an acute hospital take place within 48 hours with no complex discharge taking more than seven days. The latest available information in respect of complex discharges shows that in October 2015 there were 57 patients whose discharge was delayed more than 48 hours because no residential home, nursing home or Elderly Mentally Infirm beds were available. It is not known how many of these patients required twenty-four hour care.

The Unscheduled Care Network, jointly led by the Health and Social Care Board and the Public Health Agency, is actively investigating possible solutions to improve discharge performance. In the meantime Health and Social Care Trusts monitor patient discharges and have local measures in place to mitigate the effects of delayed discharges.