The Care and Support (Discharge of Hospital Patients) Regulations 2014

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations make provision for the details of the scheme for the discharge of hospital patients with care and support needs set out in section 74 of, and Schedule 3 to, the Care Act 2014 (“the Act”). Schedule 3 to the Act makes provision for co-operative working to secure the safe discharge of patients in England from NHS, or NHS arranged, hospital care to local authority care and support and enables a relevant NHS body to seek reimbursement from a relevant local authority where a patient's discharge has been delayed due to a failure of the local authority either to arrange for relevant assessments or meet a patient's or (where applicable) that patient's carer's needs which the local authority proposes to meet.

Regulation 2 requires that all notices which the NHS body gives the local authority under Schedule 3 to the Act must be in writing and contain the date upon which it is given.

Regulation 3 sets out the details which an assessment notice must contain and regulation 4 sets out the circumstances under which an NHS body must withdraw an assessment notice.

Regulation 5 specifies that a discharge notice may not be given less than one day in advance of the proposed discharge date. Regulation 6 sets out the details which a discharge notice must contain and regulation 7 sets out the circumstances under which an NHS body must withdraw a discharge notice. Regulation 8 specifies that the minimum period for which a discharge notice may remain in force (unless withdrawn by the local authority) is two days after the date on which an assessment notice is given or treated as being given in accordance with regulation 11.

Regulation 9 sets out how the period for which the local authority may be liable to the NHS for reimbursement for the costs of the patient's care is to be determined and regulation 10 specifies the daily amount the local authority may be required to pay the NHS body in the event that the local authority has not assessed the patient and put in place arrangements to meet some or all of those needs that it proposes to meet.

Regulation 11 provides for the day on which an assessment and discharge notice is to be regarded as given.

Regulation 12 requires a local authority to which an assessment notice is given to accept that notice and be required to undertake the duties in relation to that patient notwithstanding that it may dispute that patient's ordinary residence. It also allows a local authority which has wrongly been given an assessment notice to claim reimbursement for any delayed discharge payment it has paid in that case from the local authority in whose area the patient is later agreed or determined to be ordinarily resident.

A separate impact assessment has not been prepared for these Regulations. These Regulations are part of a package of legislative measures and the relevant impact assessment can be requested via [e-mail] or the Department of Health, Richmond House, 79 Whitehall, London SW1A 2NS and is available online at https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-of-health.