To ask the Minister of Health for an update on the policy of offering places in care homes for those awaiting discharge from hospital, but for whom a required care package is not in place.

This policy has been operating since September 2022.

Where a person that may otherwise have been offered a domiciliary care package as part of their discharge is unable to be provided with such a package on a timely basis, they will be offered a place in appropriate residential/nursing accommodation on a temporary basis if their needs cannot be met safely at home without some form of support.

Where this offer is accepted, and the individual moves into residential/nursing accommodation on a temporary basis, the relevant charging regulations will not be applied while their preferred option of a domiciliary care package is not available.

However, should they later be offered, and choose to decline, a domiciliary care package, when it can be provided, then the charging position will change at this point in line with the relevant charging regulations.

Since September 2022, 347 patients in the South Eastern Trust have availed of this offer at a cost of £2.3m. 68 patients in the Western Trust have also taken up this offer at a cost of £1.4m. The remaining Trusts were unable to provide the information sought within the set time frame.