Hospital stays longer than are needed
PRESSURES on the area’s healthcare system are causing dozens of patients to remain in hospital each week for several extra days when they are medically fit to leave.
A new report from Joined Up Care Derbyshire has provided details of the pressure being experienced by the healthcare system.
It details that, in a current average week, 64 patients are staying in hospital for more than four days extra, even though they are medically fit, because there is no home support or care home beds available for them. In total, this amounts to 274 delayed bed days every week – on average.
All of this means that beds required by new patients remain occupied by patients who no longer need to be there - a process known as “bed blocking”.
Increased demand at Derby and Burton emergency departments and delays for discharge are hampering the NHS system and its ability to wade through the huge backlog in patients waiting for treatment for more than a year.
The report details that on an average week 39 patients are delayed for an average of 2.9 days at the University Hospitals of Derby and Burton NHS Foundation Trust, which runs Queen’s Hospital in Burton and Royal Derby in the city; 18 patients are delayed for an average of 5.1 days at Chesterfield Royal Hospital NHS Foundation Trust; and six patients are delayed by 10.9 days at out-of-area acute hospitals (those with A&ES).
It says that 82% of patients are experiencing delayed discharges, with the remaining 18 per cent sent home or to a further care facility within 24 hours once they are deemed medically fit for discharge.
Joined-up Care Derbyshire says that it has schemes in place to encourage “admission avoidance” and that it has “challenges” over discharge, with long wait times in emergency departments and ambulance handover delays representing further symptoms of pressure throughout the healthcare system.
The latest reports from the Derby and Burton hospital trust detail that more than 7,400 of its patients have waited more than 18 months for treatment.
Earlier this month, a spokesperson for Joined-up Care Derbyshire said: “It was absolutely crucial that anyone who does not need to be in a hospital setting, does not attend, as we must be able to focus our attention on the increasing numbers of very poorly patients”. They urged residents to visit treatment centres or call the NHS 111 service for nonlife-threatening concerns.
Also last month, East Midlands Ambulance Service bosses said that every hospital in the region was on their “worry list” with “problems everywhere” relating to delays.