Warning over ‘warehousing’ patients in care homes

PATIENTS risk being “warehoused” in care homes in a rush to clear hospital wards, social care leaders have warned.

A £200million fund to buy extra care home beds was announced by the Government yesterday, to help discharge patients who are fit to leave hospital.

About 13,000 patients remain stuck in hospital each day despite being well enough to leave, because of a lack of social care provision.

The funding will be used to buy up short-term care home placements to allow people to leave hospital and free up ward beds, thus easing pressure on accident and emergency departments.

But social care leaders have said the plan will not tackle the underlying reasons why patients remain stuck in hospital and could lead to further harm.

Prof Adam Gordon, president of the British Geriatrics Society, warned that patients are at risk of being “warehoused” in care homes if rehabilitation support is not provided alongside.

“Warehousing implies that people need intensive rehabilitation support, but they’re not able to access that because it’s not available in every care setting,” said Prof Gordon. “Effectively all they’re receiving is food and board and basic care.”

He added that without support for rehabilitation care, which can include

‘Most patients don’t need to be in a care home. They need help to get back on their feet and basic care’

physiotherapy, exercise therapy, and balance therapy to reduce the risk of falls, “there’s a real risk that they won’t recover fully from illnesses, they’ll develop prolonged disability and dependency, and it won’t make the situation any better for the patients or the health and social care system.”

There is also a risk that patients will be sent to care homes far away from their families, owing to a lack of capacity closer to home.

It comes as the Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch (HSIB) is investigating delayed discharges and the impact on ambulance handovers.

Neil Alexander, lead investigator, said: “Health and social care staff told HSIB that they try to free up beds in hospitals and to create patient flow; sometimes patients may be discharged to a sub-optimal care setting.

“This may create a free bed in the short term, but if the patient is not in the right place of care, they could end up returning to hospital, thus putting more pressure on the system.”

Richard Humphries, a social care consultant and visiting professor at the University of Worcester, said that most patients being discharged from hospital do not need to be in residential care.

“Offloading [patients] into care homes is the wrong response because actually most of them don’t need to be in a care home… they need help to get back on their feet, reablement, and basic care in their own home.”