GovWire

To improve flow through hospitals and free up hospital beds during the winter of 2022, the government announced 2 additional funding streams:

• the 500 million Adult Social Care Discharge Fund, in September 2022, for 2022 to 2023
• a further 200 million step down fund for integrated care boards in January 2023

This evaluation report:

• explores how local areas spent that funding, including whether they were able to spend it as planned
• provides insights into the impact of the funding through tracking changes to hospital discharge outcomes
• uses impact analysis to better understand whether the funding achieved its overall aims

The findings from the evaluation suggest that, in most cases, funding was used to increase the number of discharges and reduce discharge delays. However, the ability to estimate any impact is limited by factors related to data quality and policy characteristics.

The Department of Health and Social Care also commissioned the Kings Fund, through the National Institute for Health and Care Research Policy Research Programme, to conduct independent in-depth research into the experiences of 6 local areas. This report, Hospital discharge funds: experiences in winter 202223, was published on 28 November 2023.