LACK OF CO-ORDINATION LEADS TO BED BLOCKING
LACK OF CO-ORDINATION BETWEEN HEALTH AND CARE SERVICES MEAN PATIENTS REMAIN IN HOSPITALS
PATIENTS block seven beds a day at hospitals run by Hillingdon Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, NHS England figures show.
In October, patients at the trust’s hospitals – Hillingdon Hospital, in Hillingdon, and Mount Vernon Hospital, in Northwood – spent a total of 212 days waiting to be discharged or transferred to a different care facility.
That is equivalent to more than six months’ waiting time.
The figures show 80% of these delays were caused by problems with the NHS, such as waiting for a bed to open up in a rehabilitation centre or mental health hospital.
The remaining 20% were caused by problems with social care, such as delays in setting up community care or special equipment at home.
A delayed transfer of care occurs when a patient remains in a bed after being officially declared safe for transfer by both a doctor and a multidisciplinary team, which could include social or mental health care workers.
The figures do not include delays in transferring a patient between wards or from one acute hospital to another.
Independent healthcare charity the King’s Fund has said the process is sometimes lengthy and there could be many more people who were safe to leave hospital but had not been officially signed off.
Delayed transfers of care have the greatest impact on elderly patients. According to the NHS, for a person aged over 80 a hospital stay of more than 10 days can lead to 10 years of muscle ageing.
Across England an average of 4,737 beds a day were blocked in October, representing roughly 4.3% of all occupied beds (the government’s target is 3.5%). This resulted in a total of 146,861 delayed days, equivalent to around 400 years of lost time.
The national rate peaked in February 2017 at a rate of 6,660 beds per day but has decreased fairly steadily since then.
A report on delivering care for older people released last year by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) highlighted concerns about government targets for delayed transfers of care.
The report, Beyond Barriers, cautioned that trusts focusing on trying to hit targets might end up delivering lower quality care as a result.
The CQC said it is recommending a more joined-up approach to health and social care, and performance measures for the care of elderly people.
A spokesman said: “As our report highlights, there is too much ineffective co-ordination of local health and care services – leading to fragmented care for older people. Our measures would reflect the contribution of all health and care organisations rather than relying primarily on information collected by acute hospitals.”
A spokesman for the NHS added: “A growing proportion of people are getting same day emergency care, which prevents the need for an overnight stay. Hospitals also have freed up an additional 742 beds by working closely with councils to help more people return home with the right care in place.”