Delayed transfers of care (DTOC) from hospital
The Council works with NHS providers to meet the national policy that no-one should stay in a hospital longer than necessary and for people to have the correct support they need on leaving hospital. However, for a range of reasons, a person may experience a delayed transfer of care from a hospital.
In March 2017 NHSE set a target as part of the Better Care Fund funding - to 2 delayed days per 100,000 population per day.
February 2020 performance
In light of the COVID19 pandemic, NHS providers are no longer recording and reporting Delayed Transfers of Care, this has been the case since March 2020.
DTOCs increase over the winter months, this is due to multiple factors, including increased demand and pressure in acute hospitals, which has resulted in an increase in referrals for hospital social work teams.
The Council continues to work closely with West Sussex Clinical Commissioning Groups and acute and community health service providers across West Sussex to improve the flow of patients through hospital in a timely way.
Winter plans have been developed, and for social care this includes commissioning additional home care capacity and block booking beds for nursing and dementia provision. In addition, a high priority in focus and investment in time for winter is the implementation of Home First, a joint health and social care discharge to assess pathway for patients to be enabled to return home as soon as they are medically ready for discharge. This enables support in a person’s own home to consider any ongoing care and support needs and how these might be most appropriately met, which whilst improving DTOCs should also improve outcomes for customers after their discharge.