§ Mr. LuffTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has to reduce the level of bed blocking in Worcestershire. [5749]
§ Yvette CooperThe number of delayed transfers of care in Worcestershire have been relatively steady, with no significant increases being reported. However, Worcestershire social services and the local health economy are working collaboratively to address existing needs, and several plans are currently in hand. These include
the joint appointment of a lead senior manager for older peopleexpanded admission prevention and rapid response teams to prevent avoidable admission to hospitalensuring effectiveness of Medical Assessment Units at hospitals to support early diagnosis and appropriate transfer to other services when acute admission is not requiredfurther expansion of national health service rehabilitation services as part of our initiative on intermediate caremaximise the capacity of local community hospitals, develop residential re-ablement services in areas which currently do not receive this service, and continue expansion of home-based re-ablement services.