Reimbursement — A Look Back and a Look Forward

This paper considers the impact of reimbursement on delayed transfers and whole‐systems planning. The paper argues that making hospital discharge work with the focus only on the interface between health and social care will have limited and short‐term results. More radical cultural change is needed to tackle the problems of an ageing society. The paper draws on recent thinking which challenges the way in which services are currently provided to older people, and calls for new ways for services to be commissioned and provided. The paper advocates changes towards community‐based processes and pathways, across a wide range of services and within a much broader whole‐systems framework, to support independence.