To ask the Minister of Health when domiciliary care calls of 15 minutes will be abolished in line with guidance from the National Institute for Clinical Excellence.

There is no set time allocation for homecare visits and it should be noted that 15 minutes is not the basic unit for determining what service a person receives. The duration of homecare visits are based on the assessment by Trusts of the individual’s needs and circumstances and will vary for each individual.

The starting point each individual’s assessed care needs, what service response is required, and what resources and services are available to meet those needs. It is widely accepted that, for some people, brief interventions are entirely appropriate. However, they are not suitable for people with high levels of clinical need.

Funding has been allocated to Domiciliary Care Reform for 2021/22, to continue work on a new model of domiciliary care – work which has been a key part of our transformation programme. A new model of domiciliary care is currently being trialled which focuses on outcomes rather than activities, and a move away from time and task based to outcome based provision.

One element of the model has been to identify geographical patches and agree provision with local providers – as well as an attempt to focus payment on outcomes rather than activities. The benefits are deemed to be less travel, fewer care workers per client, increased staff morale, improved client experience, better flexibility, timing and regularity of calls, fewer hand backs, and better/more equitable waiting list management.

I recognise that there is a clear need to address a number of issues in social care, in the long term. The work of the Reform of Adult Social Care will inform the long term reform of the sector, including in relation to domiciliary care. Key considerations in this work include remuneration and development of the workforce; investment in the quality of care and outcomes for people using services; and stability of the services being provided.

I hope to launch a full public consultation on the Reform of Adult Social care before the end of the year.