“Bed blocking” in the NHS which leads to thousands of elderly people being kept in hospital beds when they should be discharged because of a growing shortage of space in care homes is reportedly on the rise and costing £500,000 every day.
NHS figures state that instances of “bed blocking” have risen by 16% in the last year, costing health budgets an estimated £239 million since August 2010
The latest Department of Health figures showed that patients who were fit for discharge to care homes or their own homes with care assistance spent 64,309 days in hospital in October this year. In August 2010, the number of days taken up by delayed discharges was almost 9,000 fewer at 55,332. During the 15-month period from August 2010 to the end of October this year, more than 900,000 hospital bed days have been lost to bed blocking.
The ageing population means that demand for elderly care services is consistently growing, which could exacerbate the problem.
Campaigners have warned that councils are cutting hundreds of millions of pounds from the budgets for elderly care while a growing number of nursing homes have gone under in the past year.
In response, Ministers have stated that some of the Government’s promised £2 billion of extra funding for nursing homes and home help services was not reaching the front line. Councils are believed to have been diverting the money to plug holes in other services left by budget cuts of up to 30%.
A problem also highlighted is that of delayed discharge due to hospital processes even in cases where care home places are available or patients are see as fit for discharge. Compiling discharge summaries and “care packages” can often be delayed by staff having limited access to patient records.
Bupa, which runs a not-for-profit network of care homes, warned that “chronic underfunding” by councils would lead to a bed blocking crisis in the long term. Mark Ellerby, the Managing Director of Bupa Care Services, said: “Unless councils protect funding for the elderly, thousands will be unable to get the care home places they need and will have no option but to go into hospital.
Not only is this deeply concerning for them and their families, but it is also worrying for the NHS as it will create a bed blocking crisis which will affect us all.”
In order to promote a “paper-lite” process and harness the benefits that result from the move away from paper, Trusts could seek to implement an Electronic Patient Record (EPR) system like Therapy Manager. The system allows clinicians to create quick “tick-box” discharge summaries for instantaneous electronic submission back to the referring source. Assessments, clinical notes and patient documentation are also created electronically and can be automatically triggered and populated with patient demographics, reducing administrative input and the costs associated with paper processes.
Original Source The Telegraph
About Pathway Software
Pathway Software (www.pathwaysoftware.com) specialises in the design and development of patient information systems for Allied Health professionals.
Its flagship product, Therapy Manager, is an Electronic Patient Record (EPR) system specifically designed for Therapy Services to provide decision makers with the ability to track and manage clinical activity and analyse cost of care by patient, episode or service. The system also demonstrably reduces administration time and the costs of managing Therapy Services.
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