Bed blocking nightmare

Health board under fire from MSP

NHS Lanarkshire has been criticised for being “among the worst for bed blocking” due to “insufficient care arrangements” for patients.

Central Scotland MSP Margaret Mitchell hit out after figures relating to delayed discharges were released by the Information Services Division ( ISD) Scotland.

It describes the delays as being due to patients “awaiting the appropriate arrangements to be made by health and social care partnerships for safe discharge”.

Since April, an average of 74.3 per cent of patients across Scotland have had their discharges from hospital delayed as appropriate care arrangements were not in place for them.

In Lanarkshire, this rises to 88.2 per cent of patients having to wait to be discharged.

Scottish Conservative representative Ms Mitchell said: “It is essential hospital beds are available at the point when people need them.

“The rel ationship between the NHS and health and social care partnerships is vital to ensuring this is the case.

“While it is encouraging t h a t ov e r a l l , N H S Lanarkshire appears to be doing better than some other health boards in Scotland, serious questions still remain.

“It is quite clear that the health and social care partnerships, responsible for ensuring appropriate care is available to patients upon discharge from hospital, are not performing as they should.

“Delayed discharge is frustrating for patients, hospitals, and families alike and can lead to a number of other issues such as cancelled operations.

“I am, t h e re f o re, concerned to read the figures released recently.”

Ross McGuffie, interim chief officer of Health and Social Care North Lanarkshire, responded: “Reducing delayed discharges is one of our key priorities and we are pleased that we are seeing improvements in comparison to previous years, although we are not being complacent and continue to take steps to improve this further.

“For example, to support more assessment and rehabilitation in the community we have recently rolled out integrated locality rehabilitation teams, which will help patients return to their home earlier and provide support to them once they are there.

“We are also expanding specialist home support services. These help to provide additional support, enabling people to live more independent lives, and a continued reduction in home support- related bed days in 2018.”