Care crisis leaves twice as many in hospital at Christmas

‘Rising numbers marooned in their hospital beds’

The number of vulnerable people forced to spend Christmas in hospital has doubled in six years as the social care crisis deepens.

A ‘disastrous’ shortage of care home places and home help staff means thousands are stuck on wards over the festive season.

Some 3,929 patients had to stay in hospital over Christmas last year – even though there was nothing medically wrong with them. This compares to the 1,995 so-called ‘delayed transfers of care’ cases recorded in Christmas 2010.

After their hospital procedure, vulnerable patients should have been found a care home place – or sent home with assistance from carer visits. But the social care funding crisis means these people are too often not available.

The statistics, uncovered by labour, will exacerbate concerns that the figure could be even higher this year. Data comes from the ‘patient snapshot’, which is the number of people stuck in hospital at midnight on the last Thursday of the month. It showed that this had increased from 1,995 people on December 30, 2010, to 3,929 on December 29, 2016.

The last time the snapshot fell directly on Christmas was 2015, when 3,155 people spent Christmas eve stuck in hospital.

last night, Caroline Abrahams, charity director at Age UK, said: ‘Increasing numbers are being marooned in their hospital beds, losing muscle tone and risking infection when they are medically fit enough to leave, often because of acute shortages of social care, especially of the home visiting kind’.

While Barbara Keeley, labour’s spokesman for social care, said: ‘The shocking rise in delayed transfers of care is directly attributable to the cuts imposed by the Tory Government and will mean those needing care will have to spend their Christmas stuck in hospital.’

But a Department of health spokesman insisted: ‘No one should have to stay in hospital longer than necessary – that’s why we’ve freed up more than 1,000 extra beds since February.’