Patients hit hard by crisis facing our hospitals
Delayed discharges up by 138 per cent at NHS trust
FRAIL PATIENTS treated at one of Yorkshire’s leading NHS trusts have been worst hit by a national surge in delayed hospital discharges amid claims of a deepening crisis in care.
Latest figures reveal Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust saw a 138 per cent increase in delays facing patients fit to leave hospital in the 12 months to March.
Numbers of wasted bed days across the year rose above 48,000 – more than any other NHS trust in England.
Scores of patients needing help at home discharged themselves rather than wait, as 10 per cent of 1,700 beds in the city’s hospitals were at times occupied by people fit to leave.
The Yorkshire Post can reveal serious problems discharging increasing numbers of sick elderly intensified across the country in 2016-17.
Delays were up by a quarter both in the region and in England, as numbers of wasted bed days rose to 2.25 million nationally, according to analysis of official figures.
Patients in North Yorkshire faced a 79 per cent increase in delays and people in the East Riding and Hull saw a rise of 60 per cent.
The problems are being linked in part to council budget cuts which led to record numbers of delays in March for patients waiting for care packages in England.
Bed shortages caused by the delays have worsened pressures on A&E units trying to admit patients and led to more on-the-day cancellations of operations, including more than 400 in Sheffield alone last year.
There are concerns the position could deteriorate further despite an extra £2 billion for council social care over three years announced in the Budget as financial and demand pressures intensify.
Last night Labour’s Shadow Health Secretary Jon Ashworth pledged extra spending on NHS and social care to tackle worsening delays in “overcrowded and underfunded hospitals”.
“Government cuts to social care services over the past seven years have meant people are increasingly stuck in hospital even when they’re well enough to leave,” he said.
“We will introduce a new target that from 2019 most people who are well enough to go home will leave hospital within one week.”
A Conservative spokesman said: “We know that in some places the number of patients delayed in hospital is too high – which is why in the last Budget, on the back of a strong economy, we allocated an extra £2bn extra to make sure people can be discharged more quickly.”
Kirsten Major, deputy chief executive at the Sheffield NHS trust, said there had been a big rise in demand for emergency care in the last 12 months and in waits for people to return home.
“That meant they remained in hospital and we could not use that bed for other patients,” she said. “However, we have been working closely with Sheffield City Council and other providers to ensure the situation is addressed and currently we are seeing significant improvements.”
People are increasingly stuck in hospital even when they’re well. Jon Ashworth, Labour’s Shadow Health Secretary.