Council leaders have urged the government to fully engage with local government and its partners on its £200 million hospital discharge programme.

In a letter to secretary of state for health and social care, Steve Barclay, the leaders of ADASS, the LGA and Solace lay out conditions to making the discharge of hospital patients to care homes a success.

The conditions include: a clustering of places into a purposeful therapeutic environmemt; wrap around reablement multi-disciplinary support; giving people time to recover; prioritising reviews for people benefiting from the initiative; clarity on how the funding will work, including who will fund care once the four-week package of support ends; a co-ordinated approach to commissioning care home places; a focus on Good and Outstanding rated providers; and joint multi-agency discussions with people and families about the appropriateness of placements in care.

As well the immediate measures to alleviate hospital pressures the letter also sets out short term and medium term actions the government must take to ensure a sustainable health and social care system, including addressing the long-term issue of care worker pay.

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “We are committed to working with stakeholders and local government on how best to tackle pressures on the health and care system to improve outcomes for patients.

“It is vital to take decisive action which is why – building on top of our £500 million Adult Social Care Discharge Fund and the £200 million recently allocated to the NHS to buy additional step-down care this winter – we are looking for long-term solutions to the annual winter pressures through innovative solutions trialled by our Discharge Frontrunners.”