Bed-blocked hospitals issue plea to relatives to take patients home

FAMILIES have been begged to collect their elderly relatives from hospital and look after them at home, amid a growing shortage of NHS beds.

The urgent public notice came after 24 hospital trusts declared “black alerts” last night, signalling that they had run out of space or staff, and were taking extra measures.

This time last year, just two hospital trusts had issued such warnings.

Bedford Hospital NHS trust yesterday issued an “urgent” public notice pleading with relatives to offer help, as its bed occupancy reached 100 per cent. The trust urged families to be prepared to look after frail relatives at home, so that beds could be emptied as quickly as patients were fit to leave them.

“Many of our patients are elderly and require support after discharge, and we ask that relatives support us and their loved ones by helping us discharge patients that are medically well to leave hospital; to return to the most appropriate environment such as their own home or a community care home,” the trust said.

The figure of 24 trusts issuing warnings is likely to be an underestimate, as many NHS trusts refused to say whether or not they had been forced to take emergency measures, and such information is no longer published.

Yesterday, Jeremy Hunt, the Health Secretary, apologised to patients whose operations will be cancelled as a result of the mounting NHS crisis.

Mr Hunt said the decision to axe around 55,000 operations and thousands more appointments was “absolutely not what I want”, but added that it was better to cancel surgery now than at the last minute.

Meanwhile, Theresa May has

rejected claims that the NHS is in “crisis” saying the health service is better prepared “than ever before”.

Mr Hunt said: “There are real pressures, no question about it. This is the busiest week of the year for the NHS”.

He paid tribute to “heroic” efforts by staff, and added: “If you’re the person who has got a very painful hip that needs replacing and you’re told that it is going to be an extra month, that is a very, very big deal and I apologise to you and everyone in your situation.

“But I think, in this situation, it is better to be honest about the challenges we are facing at the front doors of our

hospitals and deal with these pressures in a practical and measured way.”

Around 55,000 operations, and many more outpatients appointments are being cancelled, with routine surgery suspended until at least next month so staff can treat emergency cases.

Asked whether the NHS was in crisis this winter, the Prime Minister yesterday ducked the question, paying tribute to staff for their hard work.

Mrs May added: “The NHS has been better prepared for this winter than ever before, we have put extra funding in.

“There are more beds available across the system – we’ve reduced the number of delayed discharges of elderly people who would otherwise have been in NHS beds rather than in social care.”

‘It is better to be honest about the challenges we are facing at the front doors of our hospitals’’