Community Care (Delayed Discharges etc.) Bill — Clause 12 — Free Provision of Certain Community Care Services — 15 Jan 2003 at 18:57

I beg to move, That the Bill be now read the Third time.

Throughout Second Reading, in Committee and during today's deliberations, we have given this Bill fair and measured consideration, and I want to thank all who were involved in Committee for that. Combined with a significant package of extra funding for older people's services, the Bill will bring an end to widespread delayed discharges, and ensure that older people get the services that they need when they need them. It is a Bill that is about the approximately 5,000 mainly elderly people who are delayed unnecessarily in an acute hospital bed. We know that an acute ward is very much the wrong place for someone to be when they are no longer in need of acute hospital care. To be delayed on an acute ward is demoralising for the individual; it can damage their confidence and their prospects for living independently or returning home in future. It is worrying for their families and carers, and bad for the taxpayer and the NHS, and that is why we are determined to tackle the problem.

Question put, That the Bill be now read the Third time:-

The House divided: Ayes 323, Noes 188.

Debate in Parliament | Historical Hansard | Source |