The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Patients being put at significant risk
Learning disability patients at a Dundee mental health unit are being put at “significant risk” due to delayed discharge, according to a new report.
The Mental Welfare Commission for Scotland describes as “unacceptable” the fact that 60% of patients in the Learning Disability Assessment Unit at the Carseview Centre in Dundee are being kept in for longer than necessary.
There is a “significant risk” this will have a detrimental effect on the health of these patients as well as possibly preventing new admissions.
This problem is mirrored in other areas of Scotland, it says, with similar services at Gartnavel Hospital in Glasgow, Blytheswood House in Renfrew, and Arrol Park in Ayr all delaying discharge of patients.
Across the four units, half of the 54 patients classed as inpatients no longer needed hospital treatment and Mental Welfare Commission executive director (nursing) Alison Thomson demanded improvements.
She said: “Two years ago we published a national report on people with learning disabilities in hospital.
“At that time, we found a third of patients in learning disability units had been identified as ready to leave hospital but were awaiting a suitable move.
“We called the situation unacceptable, and made specific recommendations to address this issue, so it is particularly disappointing to find continued high levels of delayed discharge in the four units we visited this year.
“A hospital is not a home, and is not a suitable place for long-term living for people who do not need that level of care and treatment.
“Delayed discharge also prevents hospital admission for other people in the community who have been assessed as needing a period of inpatient care and treatment.”
Robert Packham, chief operating officer for Perth and Kinross Health and Social Care Partnership, which delivers inpatient adult mental health and learning disability services, said: “There can be delays in arranging this type of specialist provision. Reasons for this include the recruitment of skilled care staff and also the need for housing to be adapted to the needs of the service user.
“We aim to care for people in the community, and to deliver care as close to their homes whenever possible, and so begin planning for a patient’s discharge at the earliest opportunity.
“We are working with colleagues from the health and social care partnerships in order to ensure this work gets prioritised and suitable community provision identified for people who are delayed in hospital as quickly as possible.”