Council leaders have claimed NHS bosses and ministers focus too heavily on ‘unrealistic and unachievable' delayed transfers of care (DTOC) targets, to the ‘exclusion' of other vital factors.

In a briefing report ahead of yesterday's opposition day debate on social care, the Local Government Association (LGA) urged the NHS and the Government to ‘focus equally on preventing people going to hospital as we are on helping people quickly to get out of hospital'.