Decision details

The Sussex resilience forum has declared a major incident due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the capacity of the NHS resources to manage demand.

Pressures on acute and community hospitals are intense and to support this the Council has been working in partnership with the Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) to manage access to community provision both via the Home First (care at home) model and referral and admission to care homes. The CCG and Council are working within the parameters of the Hospital Discharge guidance issued by government on 21^st August 2020 which has established a discharge to assess model which enables people to be discharged from hospital when they are medically fit and for their ongoing care needs to be assessed at home or in an interim setting within given timescales.

The current numbers of people who are medically ready for discharge is at an unprecedented level and the Council is seeking to respond to this by creating additional community capacity through a ‘Care Hotel’ model.

The Director of Law & Assurance, with the agreement of the Cabinet Member for Adults and Health and the Chairman of the Health and Adults Social Care Scrutiny Committee, has used his delegated powers under Standing Order 5.23 and has approved the sourcing of accommodation with live in care to support hospital discharge during the Covid-19 pandemic.

None.