rewarded’

people in our community are ending up stuck in hospital when they are ready to leave, because there simply isn’t the care available for them at home or in the community.

This is causing unneeded pain and distress while piling even more pressure on our already overstretched hospitals.

patients awaiting to be discharged to another setting’.

This puts more pressure on our hard working staff and creaking system.

Delayed discharges take place when medically fit patients, not requiring hospital care, are unable to leave hospital, often due to a lack of social care.

Across the country, the NHS lost over 128,800 bed days to delayed discharges from hospital, up an astonishing 32% on the same period last year.

The conservative government has failed to tackle the social care crisis. This is having a disastrous impact on local NHS services, piling pressure on our hospital. Far too many elderly and vulnerable

Let us not forget that, while the social care sector has warned of this crisis for some time, the loss of staff caused by Brexit has had a devastating impact on an already desperate situation.

We know that the crisis in the NHS cannot be tackled without fixing the crisis in social care. The Liberal Democrats want to tackle this head on with a huge recruitment drive across the sector. We are calling for the introduction of a Carer’s Minimum Wage, set at £2 above the minimum wage, to help address the huge number of job vacancies.

Care is a worthy and vital profession. Those who choose to look after others deserve our respect and proper pay for their work. A functioning care system would give our NHS Trust space to focus on care for those who truly need it.