‘Shocking’ hospital aftercare leaves elderly patients trapped in beds for more than a year

THE elderly and infirm are being left stranded in hospital beds for more than a year, startling new figures reveal today.

A lack of care home places or community support has left patients who are well enough to be discharged trapped in beds for months on end.

Delays discharging patients rose by more than a fifth in the past year to a record high. Around 6,100 a day were fit to leave in June but had no care.

It comes as the number of days patients spend in hospitals because of “bed blocking” peaked at the second-highest figure on record.

One patient was stuck in James Paget University Hospital in East Anglia for a staggering 366 days.

Another was left at South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust for 316 days.
And at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, one patient spent 301 consecutive days in hospital.

Vulnerable and frail patients can’t be released if there is not a care home place available or support in the community from social workers, home helps or district nurses.

The figures, uncovered by Freedom of Information, showed that in at least 16 Trusts up and down the country patients were delayed for six months or longer.

In the Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Foundation Trust the longest delay was 294 days.

A patient in Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust was trapped in hospital for 224 days due to a “housing wait” while a patient in East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust stayed in hospital for 234 days.

Last night Labour’s Shadow Health Secretary Diane Abbott said delays of more than three months were not uncommon and described the figures as “shocking”.

She said: “It’s an outrage that patients are being trapped on hospital wards for months on end despite being ready to leave.”

The British Medical Association’s Dr Mark Porter added: “Problems at the hospital front door are linked to delays at the back door.

“This is because a shortage of social care beds creates ‘exit block’ in hospitals, meaning patients who no longer need to be in hospital can’t be discharged because there is simply nowhere for them to go.”

Last night an NHS England spokesman admitted the increasing burden on social care meant the situation would worsen.

He said: “There are rare occasions where individuals end up staying in hospital for exceptionally long periods, often for social care rather than medical reasons.

“In some parts of the country the system is working well. However, performance varies and growing pressure on social care will intensify delayed discharges and put extra pressure on hospitals in the future.”

The overall number of days patients are spending in hospitals due to so-called “bed blocking” is at its second-highest figure on record.

New data for England has revealed that people occupying beds when they no longer needed care took up a total of 171,298 days in June.

It marks a considerable rise of more than 30,000 days on June 2015, during which 139,538 days were taken up by the delays.

But NHS England said that, although the figure was still “significant”, it had decreased on the previous month, when it hit a record high.

Official figures previously showed around 5,500 patients a day are affected by so called bed blocking.

It’s estimated to cost the NHS in England £900million a year.

A report by Labour peer Lord Carter earlier this year found nearly one in ten beds was taken by someone well enough to be discharged.