Commenting on the idea for an ‘AirBnB’-style scheme to provide care for patients on leaving hospital, Nuffield Trust Chief Executive Nigel Edwards told the BBC this morning:
“This is an interesting idea and is an extension of other approaches already out there. Some housing associations are already doing similar work and there's a scheme that already exists, which works well, called Shared Lives where people do adult fostering. But that’s for a longer period of time because there is quite a big investment required to make sure you have the right people and the right environment to make this work.
“The overall impact a scheme like this [AirBnB scheme] could have will be relatively small, even if they can get past the quite significant regulatory and legal hurdles they will face. There’s quite a large legal framework, in particular about safeguarding vulnerable people, which will need to be complied with.
“Set against the context of the bigger problem that is facing the NHS and social care at the moment, this is likely to be an interesting idea that, if they can get it to work, would certainly help. But there are bigger things at play at the moment in terms of the pressures on the wider health and care system.”