NHS England publishes data on DTOC

Staffordshire County Council

NHS England publishes data on Delayed Transfers of Care (DTOC) monthly

A council is facing a £19.5 million black hole in its social care budget – because patients are spending too long in hospital beds. Staffordshire County Council was due to receive the NHS funding to pay for services for elderly and disabled people.

But now NHS England is threatening to withhold the cash because the authority is failing to reduce its bed-blocking figures by ensuring care packages are in place. Council leaders say the target – cutting social care-related delayed transfers of care by two-thirds in eight weeks – was unrealistic and set at ‘extremely short notice’.

Now they are lobbying the Government on the issue and working with the local NHS to find alternative ways of paying for the affected services.

Source: Stoke Sentinel