A Mansfield District Council housing scheme, which has helped reduce bed-blocking in the area and saved the NHS more than £1m a year, has been shortlisted for a national award.

The Better Together – ASSIST Hospital Discharge Scheme has been named in the top four of the Shared Learning Awards 2017 run by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE).

The scheme is a collaboration of the district council, Nottinghamshire County Council, Sherwood Forest Hospitals Foundation Trust and the Mid Nottinghamshire Clinical Commissioning Group.

It involves county council social workers at King’s Mill Hospital, Sutton, identifying patients with a housing or social need and working with the district council housing department to find solutions that enable the patients to leave hospital.

Since its inception in October 2014, it has (up to January 2017) helped 2,174 patients.

The project was described by NICE as particularly impressive among 60 other entries of an extremely high standard.

It is up against three other entries in the final in Liverpool on 19th May.