Delayed discharge payments
6Liability to make delayed discharge payments
(1)This section applies where notice of a patient’s case under section 2 and notice of the proposed discharge day under section 5(3) have both been given (and are in force).
(2)If by the end of the relevant day—
(a)the patient has not been discharged and the responsible authority has not complied with its duties under section 4(2); or
(b)it has not been possible to discharge the patient because, and only because, either of the conditions in subsection (3) is satisfied (or both are satisfied),
the responsible authority must make a payment of the amount prescribed in regulations for each day of the delayed discharge period.
(3)The conditions referred to in subsection (2) are that—
(a)the responsible authority has not made available for the patient a community care service which it decided under section 4(2)(b) to make available for him;
(b)the responsible authority has not made available for the patient’s carer a service which it decided under section 4(3)(b) to make available to the carer.
(4)For this purpose “the delayed discharge period” is, subject to subsections (5) and (7), the period—
(a)beginning with the day after the relevant day, and
(b)ending with the day on which the patient is discharged.
(5)If on any day before that on which the patient is discharged the responsible authority gives notice to the responsible NHS body that—
(a)it has complied with its duties under section 4(2),
(b)every community care service that it decided under section 4(2)(b) to make available has been made available for the patient, and
(c)every service that it decided under section 4(3)(b) to make available to a carer has been made available,
the delayed discharge period ends with that day.
(6)The references in subsections (3) and (5) to services “decided under” section 4(2)(b) or (3)(b) are, in a case where the decision in question has been altered under section 4(7), to any services specified in the altered decision.
(7)Regulations may—
(a)require days after the relevant day not to be treated as days of the delayed discharge period;
(b)prescribe circumstances (other than those mentioned in subsections (4) and (5)) in which the delayed discharge period ends;
(c)make provision for determining the day on which a patient is discharged (including provision prescribing circumstances in which a patient is to be treated for the purposes of this section as having been discharged on a day other than that on which he was in fact discharged).
7Delayed discharge payments: supplementary
(1)In prescribing an amount under section 6(2) the appropriate Minister must have regard (among other things) to either or both of the following matters—
(a)costs to NHS bodies of providing accommodation and personal care to patients who are ready to be discharged; and
(b)costs to social services authorities of providing community care services to, and services to carers in relation to, persons who have been discharged.
(2)Any payment which the responsible authority is required to make under section 6 in relation to qualifying hospital patient shall, subject to subsection (3), be made to the responsible NHS body.
(3)In cases of any description prescribed in regulations the payment shall be made to the person prescribed in relation to cases of that description.