MP for Bury North, James Daly, has welcomed the news that Greater Manchester will benefit from a trial of new innovative solutions to free up hospital beds.
This new initiative launched today, Monday 9 January, will see The Northern Care Alliance trialling specialised dementia hubs to support people who have a greater chance of re-admission.
Greater Manchester is one of six areas exploring new ideas to free up hospital beds and make sure patients get the right care at the right time – key to reducing future urgent and emergency care delays and help getting ambulances back on the roads quicker.
James Daly said:
“It is absolutely critical we free up as many hospital beds as possible to address the issues with lack of beds in urgent care.
“This is an incredibly difficult time for our urgent care services and it is good to see our area at the forefront of finding innovative solutions to this hugely important issue.
Minister for Care Helen Whately said:
“Getting people out of hospital on time is more important than ever. It’s good for patients and it helps hospitals make space for those who need urgent care.
“We’re launching six Discharge Frontrunners to lead the way with innovations to help get people out of hospital and back home.
“Winter is always hard for the NHS and social care, and this, year especially with flu in high circulation. That’s why we provided the £500million Discharge Fund earlier in the winter.
“As well as helping people right now, we’re looking ahead to make our health and care system work better next winter and beyond. These problems are not new but now is the time to fix them for the future.”
In total, up to £14.1 billion additional funding will be invested by government over the next two years to improve urgent and emergency care and tackle the backlog – the highest spend on health and care in any government’s history. £7.5 billion of this support is for adult social care and discharge over the next two years which will also help deal with immediate pressures.