§ Mr. BurstowTo ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) pursuant to his answer of 17 June 2002,Official Report, column 168W, on hospital discharges, in which paragraph and page number in the NHS Plan the target to reduce the number of delayed discharges from hospital by 20 per cent. between March 2002 and March 2003 is set out; [63871]
(2) whether his target to reduce delayed discharge by 20 per cent. in the period March 2002 to March 2003 is for (a) the number of people that experience delayed discharge and (b) the number of bed days that a person is kept in hospital awaiting discharge. [63814]
§ Jacqui SmithThe NHS Plan target to reduce the total number of people that experience delayed discharge is in paragraph 12.9 on page 102 and states that we will end widespread bed blocking by 2004. The target to reduce the number of people that experience delayed discharges from hospital by 20 per cent. between March 2002 and March 2003 was set for the national health service as a milestone to progress to this overall target. This is expected to also reduce the number of bed days that people are kept in hospital awaiting discharge.