HUGE SCALE OF BED BLOCKING REVEALED AT CITY HOSPITAL

PATIENTS waiting for hospital discharge take up 36 beds a day at Coventry and Warwickshire University Hospitals, NHS England figures show.

In October, patients at the University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust spent a total of 1,130 days waiting to be discharged or transferred to a different care facility.

That’s equivalent to more than three years of waiting time.

The figures show that 76 per cent of these delays were caused by problems with successive health services, like waiting for a bed to open up in a rehabilitation centre or mental health hospital.

A further 19 per cent were caused by problems with social care, such as delays in setting up community care or special equipment at home.

The rest of the delays were due to problems in both sectors.

At the Coventry and Warwickshire Partnership Trust, which provides mental health and learning disability services, 15 beds were blocked each day in October.

Patients spent a total of 461 days waiting for discharge or transfer.

Coventry and Warwickshire Partnership Trust and University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire have been contacted for comment.

At Nuneaton’s George Eliot Hospital eight beds a day were blocked, a total of 237 days.

A spokesperson from George Eliot Hospital said: “We take the issue of delayed transfers of care very seriously as this has a real effect on the welfare of our patients.

“The situation is improving as we are working closely with our partners in the health and care system to review any delays. We regularly monitor cases where patients are waiting longer than seven days so we can take action to discharge them safely.”

Around 95 per cent of those delays were caused by internal NHS issues.

The further five per cent were caused by issues in the social care system.

A delayed transfer of care occurs when a patient remains in a bed after being officially declared safe for transfer by both a doctor and a multidisciplinary team, which could include social or mental health care workers.

The figures do not include delays in transferring a patient between wards, or from one acute hospital to another.

Independent healthcare charity the King’s Fund has said that the process is sometimes lengthy, and there could be many more people who were safe to leave hospital but had not been officially signed off.

Delayed transfers of care have the greatest impact on elderly patients. According to the NHS, for a person over 80 a hospital stay of more than ten days can lead to ten years of muscle ageing.

Across England, an average of 4,737 beds a day were blocked in October, representing roughly 4.3 per cent of all occupied beds. The Government’s target is 3.5 per cent.

This resulted in a total of 146,861 delayed days, equivalent to just over 400 years of lost time.

The national rate peaked in February 2017 at a rate of 6,660 beds per day, but has decreased fairly steadily over the past year.

A report on delivering care for older people released this year by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) highlighted concerns about Government targets for delayed transfers of care.

The report, Beyond Barriers, cautioned that trusts focusing on trying to hit government targets might end up delivering lower quality care as a result. The CQC said that it is recommending a more joined-up approach to health and social care, and performance measures for the care of elderly people.

A CQC spokesperson said: “As our report highlights, there is too much ineffective coordination of local health and care services.”