‘0ut of district’ patients causing bed blocking problems in town

‘OUT of district’ patients are causing bed-blocking problems at Nuneaton’s hospital.

George Eliot Hospital, like many up and down the country, is suffering from being unable to discharge medically fit patients because they do not have care packages in place for them to go home or into care.

They are known as ‘stranded patients’ as they are well enough to no longer need hospital care, but are in limbo until arrangements are in place for them to leave.

The issue, also dubbed ‘bed blocking,’ is being made worse at the George Eliot because it is taking in more patients from ‘out of area.’

Due to it being in the top three hospitals in the Midlands in terms of Accident and Emergency waiting times, as well as the success of the new Community Diagnostic Centre (CDC), the hospital is offering what is known as ‘mutual aid’ to other hospitals in the region which are struggling.

But this is causing problems within the hospital in terms of the amount of patients where the length of stay is longer than 21 days, holding-up vital beds that could be used for patients in more clinical need. “We are grappling with length of stay, it is longer than we like,” David Eltringham, the hospital’s managing director, said at a board meeting.

“We have a number of patients with a 21-day length of stay and we are now experiencing delays in discharge, between 60 or 70 patients a day who could be somewhere else if the package of care was available to them

“This means our surge capacity remains open - it is the right thing to do and we always put safety and quality first.” Russell Hardy, the hospital’s chairman said the hospital was admitting ‘a lot patients coming from out of district.’

“That does make discharging disproportionately difficult for these patients because organising packages of care when you are not on the local region is far more complex,” he said. “That then leads to delays in discharge and increase in length of stay.

“These issues on length of stay are not always within our local control and, quite often, are a consequence of intelligence conveyancing and ambulances coming to us from out of district.”

Work is ongoing with the hospital and outside organisations such as social services to help ease the situation, especially as the hospital heads into the traditionally busy winter period where bed space is often precious.