Funding shortfalls delay discharges

This news item aired on the BBC Look North evening news on 22 January 2026.

Watch the full news article here – Helen Thompson – Look North Yorkshire

Helen Thompson was featured in a BBC piece (with images credited to BBC) about a shortfall in government funding preventing care homes from taking on patients needed to ease pressure on hospital beds.

Helen said that while Oche Care “absolutely” had capacity, government funding was “not appropriate to the level of need.” She explained that elderly people waiting to be discharged from hospital often had complex needs requiring more support.

Helen highlighted that it could take “several months” for the appropriate paperwork to be processed and for council funding to arrive, saying: “That obviously affects our cash flow very much, so it’s a constant juggle to try and just keep things going smoothly.”

Helen revealed a stark funding gap — where homes received around £994 a week per council-funded resident, but the real cost of providing care was up to £1,300 a week. She urged the government to fund social care appropriately, warning that if small providers like hers were to disappear, “it will cost everyone a lot more because we provide great, high quality care at a lower cost to a lot of the bigger groups.”