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<p>Throughout our coronavirus response we have kept our policies under continuous
review based on the emerging international and domestic evidence and have worked tirelessly
with the care sector and public health experts to reduce transmission and save lives.</p><p>On
15 April, we published COVID-19: Our Action Plan for Adult Social Care. This set out
that all patients are required to be tested prior to discharge to a care home. A copy
is attached.</p><p>Patients are discharged when it is clinically safe and they no
longer need acute care. Wherever possible, people who are clinically ready should
be supported to return to their place of residence, where assessment of longer-term
needs will take place. This approach follows the ‘discharge to assess’ model, to support
timely and appropriate discharge from hospital.</p><p>As our understanding of the
virus has changes throughout the course of the pandemic, we have continued to develop
our policy. Our current policy is that due to evidence of asymptomatic spread, during
periods of sustained transmission we recommend that all residents being discharged
from hospital or interim care facilities to the care home and new residents admitted
from the community should be isolated for 14 days within their own room. For care
home residents, around 70% of people living in care homes for the over 65s have dementia.
It is important they return to their familiar environments when they are clinically
ready, with the personalised support and daily activities in place that help them
to live well with dementia. This can be better achieved in their care home, rather
than the hospital.</p><p>We have made £1.3 billion funding available via the National
Health Service to help patients who no longer need urgent treatment to get home from
hospital safely and quickly. We have also made £3.2 billion available to local authorities
so they can address pressures on local services caused by the pandemic, including
in adult social care. On 13 May we announced an additional £600 million to support
care home providers through a new Adult Social Care Infection Control Fund.</p>
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