Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
‘Significant’ delays
‘Bed blocking has been going on for a long time’
HEALTH bosses have admitted that a “significant” number of patients are delayed in being discharged from hospitals across Tayside.
A report discussed at a recent NHS Tayside board meeting revealed Scottish Government targets for discharges weren’t being met.
In a report, the board said: “There continues to be significant numbers of patients delayed within our hospitals presenting a continued loss of productivity, capacity and flow.”
Monthly inspection data showed that, as recently as August 2016, 72 beds were blocked by patients who were ready to go home at various hospitals across Tayside in a single day.
Almost a quarter of these were in the Royal Victoria Hospital, where at least 10 discharges were delayed on the day of inspection each month from April to August 2016.
At least 26 patients were also delayed in being discharged from the Royal Victoria in a single day in both May and August of this year. Gordon Samson, secretary of the Dundee Pensioners’ Forum, said: “The system is collapsing. The NHS trust has overpaid and overspent — bed blocking has been going on for a long time.”
Medical Director for NHS Tayside’s operational unit Dr Alan Cook said: “Discharge from hospital can be delayed for a number of reasons, including when waiting for admission to care homes, social care assessment, provision of equipment or care at home services.
“Our commitment to patients is that they should not have to wait unnecessarily for the most appropriate care to be provided after treatment.
“Delayed discharges make it more challenging to maintain effective patient flow through our hospitals, affecting not only those whose discharge is delayed, but also patients who may need to be cared for in a different area of the hospital, those needing rapid transfer and those whose elective treatment is cancelled or delayed.”