Ruth Edwards has strongly welcomed over £4.1m of new funding to local health authorities in Nottinghamshire, to help speed up the discharge of patients who are medically fit to leave hospital.
Last week the Government announced a £250m fund to help speed up hospital discharges across the country. Speaking in Parliament after the announcement, Ruth called for the funding to be delivered to Nottinghamshire’s hospitals urgently and asked the Secretary of State for Health when the funding for step-down care would reach frontline services.
Ruth said “I know that our local hospitals have been under huge pressure over the winter and I want to thank all the staff who have been working so hard to help patients.
“Having large numbers of patients who are medically fit to leave hospital but need further care in the community has been one of the biggest issues faced in Nottinghamshire and this funding from the government will help to secure those beds.
“I will be speaking to health authorities in Nottinghamshire regularly to get updates on progress.”
The move will free up hospital beds so people can be admitted more quickly from A&E to wards, reducing pressure on emergency departments and speeding up ambulance handovers.
There are currently around 13,000 people occupying hospital beds in England who are fit to be discharged.
