Care After Cure: Creating a fast track pathway from hospitals to homes

This report highlights that over 500,000 days were unnecessarily spent in hospital by patients awaiting residential home placement or availability; nursing home placement or availability; the arrangement of a package of care to be delivered within their own homes; or equipment and adaptations at home.

Focussing primarily on residential care (and not housing), it suggests these hospital beds would be freed up for medical cases if residential care homes could look after recuperating patients who currently block wards because they have no safe place to go.

It found caring for all delayed transfer patients in this setting would cost £835 million over five years to 2020/21, compared to £3.3 billion in an acute bed.

The report argues the remaining £2.4 billion should be invested in bed capacity, skills, training and facilities in residential care to allow the sector to step up to this more substantial role.