Elderly being forced to stay in hospital through lack of community care

Thursday, 01 December 2011

Patients are being forced to stay in hospital for longer than they need due to a lack of community care when they are released.

The latest data provided by the Department of Health shows that in the last two months patients have been kept in hospital for an extra 128,000 days – an increase of 11 per cent compared to the same period last year. 

Known as bed blocking, the delays are caused by a lack of social care for vulnerable patients when they leave hospital.

The most needy patients, usually the elderly, need to have adequate care provide for them before they can be discharged.   

Bizarrely, the new statistics contradict pass figures which suggest there had been a fall in bed blocking over the past decade.

Dr Ian Donald, of the British Geriatrics Society, said: "The trouble is hospitals operate on such tight margins. Even small delays can cause problems.

"Delayed discharges are not just statistics, but individual patients who are frail and vulnerable. To them and their families it can feel like they are stuck and lost in the system."

The cost of providing a bed in hospital is £255 a day and a delayed discharge also means the speed that hospitals can admit patients is slowed.

The Department of Health claim improvements in the way the data is being collected is a factor in the apparent rise in “bed blocking”.

A spokesman for the Department of Health said: "No one should be made to stay in hospital longer than necessary. 

"The NHS and social care must work together to ensure people have the support they need on leaving hospital."

The Department of Health are now setting aside to be invested in community teams to help people when they leave hospital.