Express & Star

Bed blocking crisis will only get worse

Cuts to NHS and council budgets and a lack of facilities for elderly people are the root causes of the bed blocking crisis, it has been claimed.

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Patients in the West Midlands spent more than 10,000 days in beds when they should have been discharged or transferred, shocking new figures for just one month reveal.

And, as hospitals struggle to cope with rocketing admissions and dwindling budgets, fears are being raised that the situation is only going to get worse.

A charity campaigning for older people's care says pensioners often have nowhere to go after hospital so end up staying much longer than they should.

In Sandwell, of the 970 delayed days, 127 were caused by waits for assessments to be completed, while a lack of care home places caused 168 of the days. And on 109 days, patients were waiting for care packages for their own homes.

In Dudley there were 955 delayed days and in Walsall 263.

There were 877 delayed days in Wolverhampton, with 270 of those spent waiting for assessments.

Across Staffordshire there were 2,498 delayed days. Now the Royal Voluntary Service charity says urgent action is needed.

Chief executive David McCullough said: "This winter we've seen delays in hospital discharge reach unprecedented levels, with lack of support for older people after hospital a root cause.

"While additional funding has been allocated in some areas to address the crisis, many authorities and hospital trusts are still facing budget cuts."

Mr McCullough says volunteers should be drafted in to help ease the pressure.

Budget cuts – Paul Moore

"Placing a caring volunteer at the centre of an older person's recovery plan dramatically improves their experience, their confidence and their well-being and helps them continue to live independent, fulfilling lives," he said. Sandwell was the worst area in the Black Country for bed blocking in December. Council health boss Paul Moore said the public had to expect this after the authority's budget was slashed by a third.

"It is disappointing to see these figures, but the reason we are in this situation is that the Government has cut funding for adult social care to the bone," he said.

Dudley North MP Ian Austin also blames Government cuts for the system becoming clogged and argues that it will soon grind to a halt unless a solution is found.

"Local Government spending cuts are leaving councils unable to move patients out of hospitals quickly enough. This is a huge crisis and we need to integrate health and social care and get the councils and NHS working together."

Hospital chiefs say they start planning for a patient's discharge as soon as they are admitted. But the backlogs start to form when assessments by social care workers are delayed. Paula Clarke, of the Dudley Group of Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said: "We are working hard with our clinical commissioning group and social care partners to ensure patients who are medically fit to leave hospital do so as soon as possible. Planning for discharge starts as soon as a patient is admitted."

Councillor Dave Branwood, social care boss at Dudley Council, said: "Admissions into Russells Hall saw a huge spike in December and early January.

To speed up discharges at the other end, social care staff are working at the hospital seven days a week. It's credit to them that despite huge demand, the system held strong and patients have been discharged as soon as safely possible".

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