Homeowners offered £1,000 to host NHS patients in spare rooms in 'Airbnb-style scheme'

Patients who have had minor operations, such as knee replacement, could end up in a stranger's spare room

The NHS is piloting a new ‘Airbnb’-style scheme in which homeowners will be paid £1,000 a month to ‘host’ patients in their spare rooms in a bid to combat bed blocking.

Start-up company CareRooms is working with trusts and councils in Essex to link up members of the public with patients who have had a minor procedure - such as a knee operation - but who live alone or have no family to help them convalesce.

In return for fees of up to £1,000 a month, hosts are asked to ‘welcome the patient, cook three microwave meals a day, and offer conversation,’ the Health Service Journal (HSJ) has discovered.

CareRooms says the model provides ‘a safe, comfortable place for people to recuperate from hospital’ as well as helping alleviate bed-blocking which has risen by 40 per cent in the past year and is estimated to cause up to 8,000 deaths annually.

On some days 6,000 patients are taking up beds across the NHS when they no longer require hospital treatment.

However, the Save Southend A&E campaign group, whose members include doctors in Essex, warned the new scheme had the potential to ‘open a huge can of worms.’