429.Paragraph 1 places responsibility on the NHS body to inform the relevant local authority of a patient’s likely need for care and support. This is known as an ‘assessment notice’ and is necessary when the patient is unlikely to be safely discharged from hospital without arrangements for care and support being put into place first. The relevant local authority who the NHS body must notify is the one in which the patient is ordinarily resident or, if it is not possible to determine ordinary residence, the local authority area in which the hospital is situated.
430.The paragraph sets out a number of requirements for the assessment notice:
The notice must state that it is given under this provision. This is so that the local authority is aware of the consequences that could flow from the assessment notice, such as the liability to pay the NHS body for the costs of delayed discharge arising under paragraph 4 of this schedule.
The notice should not be issued more than 7 days before the patient is expected to be admitted into hospital. This is so the notice is not provided too far in advance of admission to avoid the risk of wasting preliminary planning in the event the patient’s condition changes.
The responsible NHS body must consult with the patient and, where appropriate, the carer before issuing the assessment notification. This is to avoid unnecessary assessments where, for example, the patient wishes to make private arrangements for care and support.
431.These requirements replicate provisions set out in sections 2 and 3 of the 2003 Act and regulation 4(4) and (5) of the Delayed Discharges (England) Regulations 2003 (S.I. 2003/2277).