‘Review case of 18-month bed-blocker’

AN Assembly Member is calling on a health board to investigate a case of socalled bed blocking which lasted for 18 months.

Conservative Suzy Davies said a patient was left stranded in a hospital bed despite being ready for discharge.

She is writing to the chairman of the health board concerned, Abertawe Bro Morgannwg (ABMU), asking the chairman Andrew Davies to investigate the circumstances which led to the delayed transfer of care.

An ABMU spokesman said they had been waiting for adaptations to be made to the patient’s home.

Mrs Davies said hospitals within the ABMU area, including Morriston in Swansea and the Prin- cess of Wales in Bridgend, had been badly hit by bed shortages resulting in the cancellation of elective surgery.

She said: “I find it incredible that a patient has been left to languish for 18 months after doctors said they could leave the hospital. Elderly people can lose a lot of capacity from being hospitalised for even a matter of weeks.

“I appreciate that there may well be circumstances peculiar to this particular patient which have prevented the discharge from taking place, but I am amazed that the problem, whatever it is, could not have been solved more quickly.”

An ABMU spokesman said: “Delayed transfers of care can have an adverse impact on patients and puts additional pressures on services. The health board strives to discharge patients from hospital as soon as they are well enough to leave, either to their own homes or to the next stage of their care.

“However, our overriding priority is to ensure patients are discharged into a safe environment. For some patients this will require care packages to be put in place or home adaptations to be carried out.

“We can confirm one patient’s discharge from hospital was delayed for 589 days. This was because we had to await the completion of adaptations to the patient’s home.”