There are some ideas that seem simple solutions to problems...
Labour plans to use NHS budget to buy beds in care homes
A Labour government would use NHS money to buy thousands of beds in care homes, Wes Streeting has said, under plans to reduce overcrowding in England’s hospitals and long waits in A&E. The shadow health secretary said the move would address the situation of beds being occupied by patients who are fit to leave but remain stuck because a lack of care outside the hospital. There are 13,000 beds in England – enough to fill 26 hospitals – being occupied by such patients. Labour intends to funnel some of the NHS’s £165bn budget into the plan as one of a series of immediate changes intended to relieve the crisis in the health service. Streeting said that a Labour government would expect hospitals across England to follow the example of Leeds teaching hospitals NHS trust, which spends £9m a year buying up care home beds in order to cut delayed discharges and free up beds. That initiative has freed up 165 beds, helped reduce the number of patients who are admitted avoidably and saved the trust between £17m and £23m, it has estimated.
