Hospital bed blocking crisis getting worse

A total of 11,248 days were lost to bed blockers in March alone – an increase of more than 1,000 on December, which was seen as a particularly busy month.

In Wolverhampton the number more than doubled to 1,740, while there were 984 at Dudley's Russells Hall, 859 at Sandwell and West Birmingham trust and 50 in Walsall.

The Wolverhampton figure was up from 877 in December, while Dudley's went up from 955. But Walsall's has dropped from 263.

Reasons for the hold-ups include waiting for beds to become available in care homes and delays in patients' houses being fitted with equipment such as rails and stairlifts.

The Express & Star previously revealed 10,000 days had been lost to bed blockers in December – and at the time health chiefs argued that month was their busiest time of year. But in many cases the problem has now got even worse, as the new figures show.

Gwen Nuttall, chief operating officer of The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust, said: "We have seen an increase in our delays in discharging. This is predominantly as a result of an increase in referrals to social care with patients waiting for assessments or allocations. "The trust liaises regularly with social care partners across the Black Country and Staffordshire to minimise delays.We are also encouraging the principal of 'home first' from our clinical teams for patients and families – as we know many patients wish to return home after illness. This will help reduce delays in hospital and patients will still be able to access services once at home."

Paula Clark, chief executive at the Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust, said: "Delays in discharge inevitably have an impact on capacity and our ability to admit more poorly patients, especially emergency patients, to a hospital bed.

"Almost two thirds of the delays in March related to patients whose transfer or discharge was waiting for an assessment to be completed. This includes assessment by social care professionals to identify a patient's future care needs and the most appropriate setting for that care."

Helen Lingham, Chief Operating Officer at the University Hospital North Midlands NHS Trust, which runs Stafford's County Hospital, said: "This winter, the trust was one of 120 trusts nationwide which experienced significantly increased demand for emergency services, particularly from patients over 75 years old.""The Trust and our partners have responded to this challenge and discharge rates, either to community settings or a patient's home, have improved since the winter."

"In addition to this the Trust is making considerable investments in additional beds and services, as well as employing more nurses and doctors, to ensure that the needs of our local population are met."