Conservative Members of Parliament from across Cornwall have written to Health Secretary Thérèse Coffee to ensure the county gets its fair share of funding from the Government’s new Adult Social Care Discharge Fund.
The fund, announced last week as part of the NHS’s new Plan for Patients, will provide an additional £500m to improve patient discharge from hospitals into social care.
Conservative MPs in Cornwall have now written collectively to share the experiences of health services in Cornwall and to outline why investment is urgently needed to improve adult social care discharges at the hospitals that serve Cornish residents.
The MPs also invited the Health Secretary to the Royal Cornwall Hospital to see and hear about the issues first hand.
Commenting, Member of Parliament for Truro and Falmouth Cherilyn Mackrory said:
“While there is a national problem in social care, the situation is much more difficult in Cornwall. Our county has unique challenges because of our rurality, ageing population and issues recruiting and retaining staff. These pressures have contributed to the Royal Cornwall Hospital recording some of the longest ambulance wait times in the country.
“We must tackle ambulance waiting times by supporting discharge from hospitals into our communities and bolstering the social care workforce - freeing up beds for patients who need them.
“The Government must consider the unique challenges Cornwall faces and ensure our county receives its fair share of this new funding. This will allow more patients in Cornwall who no longer require hospital care to be discharged, alleviating pressure on our hospitals and reducing ambulance waiting times.
“I look forward to working with the Government to support the delivery of the fund and welcoming our new Health Secretary to Cornwall as soon as possible.”