After a stay in hospital, people should be recovering in the best place for them.
Very often that’s at home or in residential care, but sometimes patients can end up waiting for care to become available. That's not good for them, and it's not good for our hospitals either. They want to be using the beds for people in need this winter.
That's why the Government recently announced the £500 million Adult Social Care Discharge Fund - to speed up the discharge of people from hospital who would be better off recovering at home or in residential care this winter.
It's going to be used flexibly on the things that are most effective in freeing up the maximum number of hospital beds, including by boosting adult social care staffing.
I'm delighted that Kent will be receiving over £5 million of this in the next couple of months.
As Minister of State for Health and Social Care, I've been working directly on the fund and its allocation in Government. I know just how much good this cash can do for our local NHS and its patients.
It's going to make sure more people are cared for in the right place at the right time.
