Part 1: Health Service in England: Integration, Collaboration and Other Changes Miscellaneous Section 91: Hospital Patients with care and support needs: repeals etc
Section 91(1)(a) substitutes a new section 74 into the Care Act 2014 to revoke the procedural requirements in the Care Act 2014 which require local authorities to carry out social care needs assessments, in relevant circumstances, before a patient is discharged from hospital, and to grant local areas the flexibility to implement a hospital discharge model best suited to local needs and circumstances.
	Subsection (1) of the new section 74 applies where the relevant trust is responsible for an adult hospital patient and considers that the patient is likely to require care and support following discharge from hospital. It places a duty on NHS trusts and foundation trusts to take any steps that they consider appropriate to involve the patient and any carer of the patient as soon as is feasible after it begins making any plans in relation to the patient’s discharge. The aim of this section is that, where appropriate, patients and carers are involved in decision-making about the patient’s onward care from the earliest stages of discharge planning.
	Subsection (2) of the new section 74 requires relevant trusts to have regard to any guidance issued by NHS England in performing their duty under subsection (1).
	Subsection (3) of the new section 74 provides that, for the purposes of that section, a relevant trust is responsible for a hospital patient if the relevant trust manages the hospital.
	Subsection (4) of the new section 74 provides that, for the purposes of that section, an "adult" is a person aged 18 or over; a "carer" is an individual who provides or intends to provide care for an adult, otherwise than by virtue of a contract or as voluntary work; and a "relevant trust" is an NHS trust or an NHS foundation trust. The definition of "carer" for the purposes of this section is broader than the definition elsewhere in the Care Act 2014 as it includes young carers. This will ensure that young carers are involved in discharge planning, where the relevant trust considers it is appropriate to do so.
	This section replaces section 74 of the Care Act 2014, which gave effect to Schedule 3 to the Care Act 2014. Subsection (1)(b) of the section repeals Schedule 3 to the Care Act 2014 in its entirety.
	Schedule 3 to the Care Act 2014 dealt with the planning of discharge of patients in England from NHS hospital care to local authority care and support. In repealing Schedule 3 to the Care Act 2014 in its entirety, subsection (1)(b) repeals the procedural requirements within that Schedule, which required social care needs assessments to be carried out by the relevant local authority before a patient was discharged from hospital.
	Further, in repealing Schedule 3 to the Care Act 2014 in its entirety, subsection (1)(b) repeals the provisions which enabled the responsible NHS body to charge the relevant local authority via a penalty notice, where a patient’s discharge from hospital had been delayed due to a failure of the local authority to arrange for a social care needs assessment, after having received an assessment and discharge notice for an individual from the relevant NHS body.
	Subsection (2) repeals the Community Care (Delayed Discharges etc) Act 2003, as that Act is, in effect, identical to Schedule 3 to the Care Act 2014, and should no longer have any application. The Community Care (Delayed Discharges etc) Act 2003 is therefore repealed in its entirety, as it is no longer required in England or in Wales.
	Subsection (3) makes relevant amendments and revocations that are required in consequence of this Act repealing section 74 of and Schedule 3 to the Care Act 2014.
	Subsection (4) makes relevant amendments that are required in consequence of this Act repealing the Community Care (Delayed Discharges etc) Act 2003.