Hospital discharge delays are on the rise
Perth Royal Infirmary (PRI) is currently experiencing “significant challenges” discharging some patients from hospital.
The delay in arranging care for elderly patients on their release has impacted on the number of beds available in PRI.
Health chiefs have responded by creating a resilience plan and reviewing the current model in place.
The issue was raised at a meeting of NHS Tayside’s board on Thursday, August 26 in a report presented by the health board’s director of performance and activity Hazel Scott.
The report highlighted the rising number of patients clinically ready to leave hospital and move to an appropriate care setting still in hospital.
She told the board while there had been a “significant reduction” in the numbers of delayed discharges at the start of the pandemic the numbers had now “increased significantly.”
The monthly census data taken on the last Thursday in June 2021 showed there were 37 Perth and Kinross patients delayed in being discharged from hospital.
The NHS Tayside Performance report stated: “Perth and Kinross Health and Social Care Partnership (HSCP) is currently experiencing significant challenges in our health and social care workforce which has impacted on capacity in PRI and the flow of patients from PRI into other services.
“This has been further hampered by the growing number of frail older people with multiple, complex and fluctuating conditions who are presenting to PRI and general practice requiring a greater enhancement of clinical assessment, social care support and rehabilitation input, potentially requiring a longer length of stay or more complex support on discharge or in the community.”
The report said there had been an increased number of patients referred to the Home Assessment Recovery Team (HART).
It added: “There is an increased level of individuals requiring guardianships (both private and local authority) which again is impacting on our assessing capacity.
“The very high level of complex discharges and volume of discharges is directly affecting our commissioned care at home providers, care home providers and housing department resulting in delays in discharge.
“There has also been an increase in referrals to our Locality Integrated Care Services which is resulting in the service being reactive offering a crisis response to community patients rather than a mix of early intervention and discharge support service.”
Perth and Kinross HSCP has collaborated with senior clinicians and operational managers across NHS Tayside Unscheduled Medicine to create a systematic wide resilience plan.
The plan is for the short, medium and long term to support and move towards longer term sustainable solutions.
Locality Integrated Care Services are being reviewed as part of this plan.
The report stated: “This review of our existing model will be designed to deliver appropriate care closer to home and which is based on the needs and choices of an individual and their carer/family as well as promote better use of digital technology.”