Care England, the leading representative body for providers in England, has called for weekly fees of at least £1,500 to fund hospital discharges to care homes.

The call followed the government’s announcement of up to £250 million to fund hospital discharges to care homes.

Professor Martin Green OBE, chief executive of Care England, said weekly fees of at least between £1,500 and £2,500 should be paid for a minimum of six weeks to make hospital discharges viable.

Sam Monaghan, chief executive of Methodist Homes, the UK’s largest charitable care provider, said the discharge funding needed to match the true cost of care, with care homes currently facing weekly shortfalls of between £500 and £600 for residential and nursing care.

“As things stand, there are 165,000 staff vacancies in social care and if we don’t have enough care workers, then we simply cannot take in more residents and look after them safely,” Monaghan said.

“Without increases in public funding, not-for-profit care providers cannot properly value the skilled and dedicated people we want to keep in this critical sector.”

Monaghan called for new discharge plans need to come “alongside a long-term, sustainable approach to funding social care”.

Professor Vic Rayner OBE, chief executive of the National Care Forum, said discharging needed to be funded “at a level that enables care providers to pay their staff a wage that reflects their expertise and skill in enabling people to build back confidence, health and resilience to enable them to return home, or to continue a fulfilling life within a care setting”.

Rayner added: “The story that grabs the headline is the hospital, but the real news is the silent crisis going on in communities. The funding is welcome, but make no mistake, this is not job done. Social care matters to us all.”