Care Act 2014

Cases where discharge of the patient is delayed

4 (1) If the relevant authority, having received an assessment notice and a discharge notice, has not carried out a needs or (where applicable) carer’s assessment and the patient has not been discharged by the end of the relevant day, the NHS body responsible for the patient may require the relevant authority to pay the specified amount for each day of the specified period.

(2) If the relevant authority has not put in place arrangements for meeting some or all of those of the needs under sections 18 to 20 that it proposes to meet in the case of the patient or (where applicable) a carer, and the patient has for that reason alone not been discharged by the end of the relevant day, the NHS body responsible for the patient may require the relevant authority to pay the specified amount for each day of the specified period.

(3) If, in a case within sub-paragraph (1) or (2), the assessment notice ceases to be in force, any liability arising under that sub-paragraph before it ceased to be in force is unaffected.

(4) A payment under sub-paragraph (1) or (2) must be made to—

(a) the NHS body responsible for the patient, or

(b) in such a case as regulations may specify, the person specified.

(5) The “relevant day” has the meaning given by paragraph 2(5).

(6) A reference to a requirement to pay the specified amount is a reference to a requirement to pay the amount specified in regulations; and the reference to the specified period is a reference to the period specified in or determined in accordance with regulations.

(7) In specifying the amount of a payment, the Secretary of State must have regard in particular to either or both of—

(a) costs to NHS bodies of providing accommodation and personal care to patients ready to be discharged, and

(b) costs to local authorities of meeting needs under sections 18 to 20 in the case of persons who have been discharged.