Toll of hospital ‘bed blocking’ rockets as 7,000 are filled by patients who should be discharged
Latest figures are 52 per cent up on five years ago
THE toll of hospital “bed blocking” has rocketed past two million nights a year.
Around 7,000 of England’s 137,000 hospital beds are filled each day by patients who should be discharged.
The latest figures are 52 per cent up on five years ago.
One in three fit enough to leave are hit by delays in arranging home care or nursing home places.
Social care budgets have been slashed by around a third in real terms since 2011.
But each night in hospital costs around £298, compared with about £80 in a care home.
Other reasons for bed blocking may include family disputes or patients awaiting assessment. It has been blamed for partially causing the winter NHS crisis because the shortage of beds means A&E patients cannot be moved on to wards.
It also leads to muscle wastage in frail patients, who remain in bed without moving.
Lib Dem health spokesman Norman Lamb said last night: “The crisis facing social care is turning our hospitals into ludicrously expensive care homes.
"It’s a lose-lose situation.
"Forcing people to remain in hospital when they could be cared for at home makes thousands of beds needlessly unavailable for those who desperately need them.
“Every day an elderly person stays unnecessarily in hospital, they lose more muscle strength and become more dependent.
"The Government must address this intolerable situation and invest more in social care to relive pressure on the NHS."
There were 6,825 bed blockers on the last Thursday of November, the last period for which figures are available.
A report by the National Audit Office published earlier this year questioned the accuracy of the official data and said the true number of blocked "bed days" could be underestimated.
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Hospitals are financially incentivised to reduce discharge delays but there is no similar incentive for community health and local authorities to speed up receiving patients discharged from hospital.
The NAO called on the Department of Health, NHS England and NHS Improvement to say how they will break the trend of rising delays while faced with the challenge of an ageing population.
The NAO Report said: "Without radical action, this problem will worsen and add further strain to the financial sustainability of the NHS and local government."
NHS England said it was working with councils and community health services on support for older patients.
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