Time to ease NHS blockage

When we think of NHS bed blocking it conjures up images of perfectly healthy patients refusing to leave hospital at the expense of more urgent cases.

In truth, however, it’s a complex issue in which quite often, the biggest sufferer is the patient in the bed!

As our report today reveals, for patients over the age of 80, a hospital stay of more than 10 days can lead to 10 years of muscle-ageing.

In our area, patients are blocking five beds a day.

It’s a concern, particularly as it is the equivalent of almost six months waiting time.

The quicker the patient can be discharged back into the community the better for all concerned.

This is a national problem but it will come as no surprise to hear that it is the less affluent areas of the country that are hardest hit. And that’s communities like ours. But it is not solely an economic issue.

Statistics show that the majority of issues are caused by problems in the NHS while others are social care problems.

On the plus side, while our community is failing to achieve the government set targets, health bosses are at pains to assure the public that they “consistently perform among the best in the NHS.”

The #TheresNoBedLike Home initiative appears to be softening the blow.

While the answer may not be to throw money at the problem, a little more from the government coffers wouldn’t go amiss.

If the age of austerity is truly at an end, as Theresa May assured us at the last Tory party conference, then more money to ensure our elderly are discharged from hospital for treatment in the comfort of their own home is not too much to ask.