Almost 1,800 elderly patients discharged from hospital at night
Almost 1,800 pensioners across the Black Country were discharged from hospital overnight – with many left to make their own way home, it has emerged.
The figures show that the practice, criticised by a former NHS England boss, continues despite fears it could be dangerous for vulnerable elderly people.
A substantial number of the patients were aged 85 or over.
Express & Star comment: NHS must do better for elderly
The numbers cover patients aged 65 or above who were discharged from medical wards between the hours of 10pm and 6am.
In April 2012, Professor Sir Bruce Keogh, then NHS England medical director, called on hospitals to cut down on overnight discharges following a series of cases where vulnerable patients had been left stranded to make their own way home.
Four years ago, in a ‘damning’ report, the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee also said discharges between 11pm and 6am had led to the deaths.
In Wolverhampton, 597 pensioners were discharged following treatment after 10pm during 2017, according to statistics revealed in a Freedom of Information request (FOI).
Of these, 97 – or a fifth – were aged at least 85, the Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust confirmed. One of them was discharged to a prison or police station.
Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust discharged the highest number of elderly patients during the time period – 763, including 153 who were in the higher age bracket. They said most were either sent home, or to another NHS hospital ward.
The Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust released 430 pensioners in the middle of the night – among them 111 who were over 85 years old.
A Dudley Group spokesman said they ‘cannot identify if discharged to their home, to a nursing home, care home, rehabilitation, transferred, or whether their relatives were informed’.
Wolverhampton Liberal Democrats, who submitted the FOI request, have called on local hospitals to end the practice of night time discharges for the elderly.
Party campaigner Rob Quarmby said: “Discharging patients, often elderly and vulnerable, late at night is totally inconsiderate and unacceptable and displays no compassion or thought for the individual patient.”
“It is a totally unacceptable practice in what is supposed to be a caring environment. It needs to stop.”
