§ 30. Mr. O'Brienasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what additional resources are made available to local authority social services departments when the care for the mentally handicapped is transferred from hospitals to local authority and voluntary organisations.
§ Mrs. CurrieHealth authorities can make payments, for as long as necessary, to local authority and voluntary 195W organisations to meet the cost of providing community care for people moving out of long-stay hospitals. The detailed mechanisms by which health authorities arrange such transfers, and the amounts of money involved, vary from authority to authority.
Joint finance can be used to fund community care projects and, in particular, as a source of bridging funds to enable community services to be developed before patients are transferred. Joint finance allocations have increased from £34.5 million in 1978–79 to £110.8 million in 1986–87—a real terms increase of over 60 per cent. The main regional allocation for 1987–88 will increase over the previous year by 3.75 per cent. About one third of joint finance is spent on services for mentally handicapped people.
Additionally, £18 million over four years has been centrally reserved from the joint finance allocations to explore and evaluate cost effective ways of providing community care for long-term hospial patients.
§ 49. Mr. Ashleyasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many mentally ill and handicapped people have been discharged from mental hospitals in the last year for which figures are available; and if he is satisfied with the care in the community that they have received.
§ Mrs. CurrieIn 1985, the last year for which figures are available, there were 188,653 discharges from mental illness hospitals and units in England, and 38,762 discharges from mental handicap hospitals and units. These figures include transfers to a different hospital. Full statistics on admissions and discharges are available in the series of DHSS booklets "Mental Health Statistics for England 1985", copies of which are in the Library. These statistics show that 89 per cent. of the in-patients discharged from mental illness hospitals and units during that year had been in-patients for less than three months, and 92 per cent. of those discharged from mental handicap hospitals and units had been in-patients for less than three months.
My predecessor's reply to the hon. Member for Caerphilly (Mr. Davies) on 25 February 1986 at column 534 gave particulars of the numbers of people who had been in-patients for five years and over who were discharged in recent years.
There are many examples of good practice on the part of health and local authorities spread across the country and we have several sources for monitoring and obtaining feedback. Authorities are also responsible for monitoring their own services. However we do recognise that in some instances community care is not managed exactly as we would like. That is why my right hon. Friend has asked Sir Roy Griffiths to study the situation generally and report back within 12 months.