Question reference: S6W-26906
- Date lodged: 18 April 2024
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Current status: Answered by Maree Todd on 2 May 2024
Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many people that require social care are currently receiving this support in inappropriate hospital stays or out-of-area placements, and what its position is on whether this reflects the commitment in the Coming Home Implementation programme to greatly reduce delayed discharges and inappropriate out-of-area placements for adults with learning disabilities and complex care needs by March 2024.
Answer
Scottish Government continue to implement the actions in the Coming Home Implementation Report, and work with COSLA to seek progress across the country. Local public bodies have the statutory responsibility for this and delivery rests with them – however we know this work takes time. We want people to be supported in a home that is right for them, which often and rightly requires a bespoke design and build, as well as recruitment and training of a care team tailored to the person.
Scottish Ministers are confident that the national work is putting in place improved systems and structures locally which are required to achieve real change. We launched new national Dynamic Support Registers in May 2023, which provide a mechanism for a new national data collection on people with learning disabilities and complex care needs.
This data is collected and published by Public Health Scotland (PHS) with the first report published in November 2023. This is a significant step forward that provides clarity on the number of people with learning disabilities and complex care needs who are in hospital and in out-of-area placements.
The latest Public Health Scotland publication reports on the census point of 28 September 2023. At that time, there were 1,243 people on the Dynamic Support Register of which, there were 86 delayed discharges and 130 out-of-area placements. Given this was the first publication of this data, care needs to be taken in early interpretation as data collection process embed and mature.
A further publication of updated figures taken from a census point of 28 March 2024 will be published by PHS on 28 May 2024.
The full November PHS report is available on the PHS website: Insights into learning disabilities and complex needs: statistics for Scotland - 28 November 2023 - Insights into learning disabilities and complex needs: statistics for Scotland - Publications - Public Health Scotland .