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News Article
Government progress against commitments made on workforce to be evaluated
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
The Health and Social Care Committee examines the Government’s progress against its pledges on the health and social care workforce and will be the focus of a new independent evaluation by the Health and Social Care Committee’s Expert Panel. Professor Dame Jane Dacre, Chair of the Expert Panel, said: “We’ll be looking at commitments the Government has made on workforce – the people who deliver the health and social care services we rely on. “We’ve identified a recurrent theme in our evaluations to date – whether in maternity, cancer or mental health services, progress is dependent on having the right number of skilled staff in the right place at the right time. Shortages have a real impact on the delivery of services and undermine achievements. “Our panel of experts will evaluate progress made to meet policy pledges in this crucial area - whether it’s about getting workforce planning right, training, or ensuring staff well-being.” The Expert Panel will focus on three areas: Planning for the workforce – including how targets are set, recruitment, and retention. Building a skilled workforce – including incorporating technology and professional development of staff. Wellbeing at work – including support services for staff, and reducing bullying rates. Four specialists have been appointed for this evaluation, bringing their subject specific expertise and experience. They will work alongside the core members of the Expert Panel in identifying a set of Government commitments on workforce and evaluate progress made against them. The findings will support the work of the Health and Social Care Committee which is carrying out a separate inquiry: Workforce: recruitment, training and retention in health and social care. Read full story Source: UK Parliament, 20 April 2022 -
News Article
Discharge policy reviewed as NHSE warns ‘capacity may decrease’
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Two national reviews are taking place into hospital discharge policy, it has emerged, amid major changes to funding and legislation. One review, led by the Department of Health and Social Care, is developing discharge policy for once the Health and Care Bill comes into force; and a second is reviewing the “clinical criteria to reside”. Delayed discharge has been a major problem in the acute and emergency care system this winter, with the number of long-staying patients significantly up on previous years. It has been blamed for long patient waits for ambulances, to get into emergency departments, and to be admitted; and for interrupting elective care recovery. An NHSE letter confirmed that the government’s national “discharge taskforce” was developing “best practice in improving discharge processes and addressing barriers to timely discharge”, in preparation for the new system. It went on: “This includes improving hospital processes to support discharge; minimising delays in the transfer of care from an acute hospital on to follow-up care services; minimising long lengths of stay in rehabilitation at home or in bedded care and ensuring social care services are available at the right time for people with ongoing care requirements. Further resources and support will be shared as learning from these systems becomes clear.” Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 28 March 2022 -
News Article
NHS Trust declares two critical incidents as Covid admissions double
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
A hospital in Devon has declared a second critical incident following extreme pressures, as Covid-19 admissions in the region double, The Independent has learnt. North Devon Healthcare Trust declared a critical incident on Monday, after it declared another earlier this month it has confirmed. The news comes as the number of people with Covid-19 across two hospitals in Devon has doubled in just two weeks. As of Thursday, there were 292 Covid positive patients in across hospitals in Devon, with a further 37 awaiting test results. According to a statement from healthcare leaders in Devon, Plymouth and Torbay, as of Thursday there were almost 1,200 NHS staff off work due to Covid. Meanwhile 183 care services, such as care homes and other social care providers, in the area have reported Covid outbreaks, making it harder to discharge patients, the leaders said. NHS data published on Thursday showed there were 213 patients across three hospitals in Devon, waiting to be discharged. Covid-19 infections are also continuing to rise across most of the UK, with levels in Scotland hitting another record high, new figures show. Read full story Source: The Independent, 19 March 2022 -
News Article
Care homes ‘could face widespread closures’ under social care reforms
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Hundreds of England’s care homes could be closed and care rationed because the government has “seriously underestimated” the costs of a shake-up, experts are warning. Widespread closures would leave hundreds of thousands of elderly and vulnerable residents homeless. Those in the southeast, the east and the southwest would be hardest hit, according to a new study. Under a package of social care reforms announced in September, ministers are aiming to make care fees fairer between private and state fee payers. At the moment, residents who self-fund all their care pay up to 40% more on average than those eligible for state support, for whom their local authority arranges care, and care homes charge councils lower rates. Read full story Source: The Independent, 18 March 2022 -
News Article
Government launches landmark review of health and social care leadership
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
The government has launched a review of leadership in health and social care. The review will be led by former Vice Chief of the Defence Staff General Sir Gordon Messenger, and will report back to Secretary of State for Health and Social Care Sajid Javid, in early 2022. The Health and Social Care Leadership Review will look to improve processes and strengthen the leadership of health and social care in England. Working with the health and care systems, retired General Sir Gordon Messenger will have a team from DHSC and the NHS to support him led by Dame Linda Pollard, chair of Leeds Teaching Hospital. The review comes as the government invests a record £36 billion to put health and social care on a sustainable financial footing and deliver the biggest catch-up programme in NHS history. Any recommendations made as the review progresses will be considered carefully and could be rapidly implemented to make every penny of taxpayer’s money count. Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Sajid Javid, said: "I am determined to make sure the NHS and social care delivers for the people of this country for years to come and leadership is so important to that mission. We are committed to providing the resources health and social care needs but that must come with change for the better. This review will shine a light on the outstanding leaders in health and social care to drive efficiency and innovation. It will help make sure individuals and families get the care and treatment they need, wherever they are in the country, as we build back better." Read full story Source: Department of Health and Social Care, 2 October 2021 -
News Article
Sussex woman forced to sleep in wheelchair due to lack of care staff
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
A woman has been left to sleep in her wheelchair several nights a week and remain in bed for the rest of it due to a lack of social care in her local area. Mandy Page, 53, who lives alone in Hove, has difficulty getting into and out of bed on her own and previously had carers to provide support in the morning and evenings. However, since before Christmas she has had no care support in the evenings after the MyLife East Sussex agency told her it was no longer covering her care, and that the agency believed her care was now being provided by her local authority. Page receives dialysis three times a week at Royal Sussex county hospital, and on those days arrives home, by hospital transport, after 6pm. This means that without help getting out of her wheelchair and into bed she must sleep in the wheelchair. “It’s very stressful, because at the moment I’m in bed every day. I can’t get up without help, and I can’t get back to bed on a dialysis day,” Page said. “On a dialysis day, I go to dialysis and I’m in my wheelchair. Every other day, I’m in bed all day and all night. That’s no life. Page’s situation exemplifies the crisis in social care. England has faced chronic shortages of care workers, with a survey by Care England finding that 95% of care providers struggle to recruit and retain staff. In 2020/21, there were around 105,000 vacancies at any one time in the social care sector, and more than a third of the sector’s staff left their jobs during the year. Page says the lack of adequate social care has taken a negative toll on her quality of life, and has meant she hasn’t been able to undertake everyday tasks. Rob Persey, the executive director for health and adult social care at Brighton and Hove council, said the council had not been able to source a new provider for Page since her earlier care was withdrawn. “This is a national as well as a local problem as there are insufficient home care staff to meet demands. Various local initiatives, including additional funding, have been taken to increase the home care workforce, but so far they have only had a limited impact." “We recognise Mandy does not want respite care, and acknowledge this is a completely unacceptable situation for her,” he said. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 28 February 2022 -
News Article
Ombudsman’s COVID report highlights ‘tragic individual cases’
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
A Covid report by the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman has highlighted some ‘tragic individual cases’ over the past months. The report analyses cases over the first 18 months of the pandemic which for the majority reveal that councils and care providers weathered the unprecedented pressures they were under fire. However, the report also reveals the ‘serious impact on people’s lives’ when things go wrong. Cases include a woman who died from COVID-19 at a care home with poor infection control procedures which was then compounded by staff trying to cover up the facts. The Ombudsman’s report focuses on the lessons that can be learned from the complaints it has received about the pandemic and welcomes that, in many cases, councils and care providers are already using their experiences from the pandemic to consider how they can make improvements to services. Michael King, Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman, said: “We have investigated some tragic individual cases over the past months. Each represents poor personal experiences where councils and care providers did not get things right. “Our investigations have shown that, while the system did not collapse under the extreme pressures placed on it, Covid-19 has magnified stresses and weaknesses present before the pandemic affecting some councils and providers. “We have always advocated how crucial good complaint handling is in any setting, so I am particularly saddened that, in some authorities, dealing with public concerns and complaints itself became a casualty of the crisis. At a time when listening to public problems was more important than ever, we saw some overstretched and under-resourced complaints teams struggle to cope. “If evidence was needed, this report proves that managing complaints should be considered a frontline service.” Read full story Source: Care Home Professional, 24 February 2022 -
News Article
NHS not ‘human’ enough to get greater role in social care, says government review
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
The NHS should not be given greater control of social care because it is ‘hierarchical, centralised and not person-centred’, according to a government-commissioned review which is repeatedly scathing about the health service. The review was ordered by then health and social care secretary Matt Hancock in June 2020. Cross-bench peer, writer and former Number 10 adviser Baroness Camilla Cavendish was asked “to make recommendations for social care reform and integration with health in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, which could fit alongside the funding reforms planned by the department in the context of the NHS long-term plan.” In her final report, Baroness Cavendish wrote that “one answer” to the problems facing the sector “would be to let the NHS take over social care. On paper, this would join up the care continuum.” However, she rejected the idea because of the NHS’ “hierarchical” and “centralised” nature. Baroness Cavendish also suggested the NHS’ role should be limited because it is “still struggling to join up primary and secondary care”. In contrast to the NHS, she claimed: “Social care is more innovative, more responsive and human.” She added: “The culture of the NHS is still largely one of ‘doing to’ patients, and the NHS has much to learn from social care about how to be responsive and human facing.” Referencing “recent attempts to import the successful [Buurtzorg] model of self-managing teams into the NHS”, the cross-bench peer said these “have foundered, because the NHS culture cannot seem to cope with giving staff the autonomy required”. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 23 February 2022 -
News Article
NHS health chiefs demand an ‘urgent’ plan to tackle the social care crisis
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Healthcare leaders have called for an urgent plan to tackle the social care crisis, warning Rishi Sunak there is “clear concern” over an ongoing failure to tackle staff shortages. The warning from Matthew Taylor, chief executive of NHS Confederation which represents hospitals and community services, comes after the publication of the long-awaited £2.4bn NHS workforce plan, which committed to 300,000 extra nurses and doctors in the coming years. Mr Taylor said any benefits to improve NHS staffing will be “limited” without an equivalent strategy for the social care sector, which currently has 165,000 vacant posts. Health bosses, represented by NHS Confederation, have now written to the prime minister asking for “urgent intervention” and calling for a clear plan for improving pay and conditions to attract staff. Martin Green, chief executive for Care England that represents care homes, warned that the sector “is in the midst of a workforce crisis, which is going to get worse not getting better”. He welcomed the NHS Confederation’s letter and said unless similar improvements were made within social care, there would be more “cancelled operations, more people languishing in hospital when they don’t need to and the whole breakdown of the system”. Read full story Source: The Independent, 2 July 2023 -
News Article
Doctors warn Truss over NHS ‘fantasy’
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Liz Truss has been warned against “fantasy predictions” that the NHS can return to normal without radical change and was told that “unacceptable standards” are being normalised. In a rare political intervention, the professional standards body for the UK’s 220,000 doctors agreed that the NHS was routinely letting down patients. The Academy of Medical Royal Colleges said politicians must be prepared for radical changes to save the health service. Closing smaller hospitals, accepting that routine dentistry cannot be free for everyone and a return of Covid volunteers to allow doctors to treat more patients were all suggested by the head of the academy. The academy released a report that declared the NHS was in crisis, writing: “The system is providing increasing proportions of care or services which are sub-standard, threaten patient safety, and should not be acceptable in a country with the resources that we have in the United Kingdom. If we do not act with urgency, we risk permanently normalising the unacceptable standards we now witness daily.” The report sets out a series of recommendations for reform, including boosting staff numbers, reforming social care and spending more on technology. Helen Stokes-Lampard, the academy’s chairwoman, said patients were facing a “dismal winter” and that politicians must take difficult decisions. “If we don’t make changes it will inevitably deteriorate further,” she said. “The demand isn’t going away, the pressure isn’t going away, which is why the challenge for our government and for our whole society is to confront these issues and have a difficult conversation.” Read full story (paywalled) Source: The Times, 9 September 2022 -
News Article
PM Truss appoints new health secretary
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Thérèse Coffey has been appointed as the new health and social care secretary. Ms Coffey, previously work and pensions secretary, has been appointed to the role by the new prime minister, Liz Truss. A close ally of Ms Truss, Ms Coffey has also been appointed as her deputy prime minister. The new prime minister, in her first speech in the role, said that putting “our health service on a firm footing” was one of her “three early priorities”. She pledged to improve access and build “hospitals”. Ms Coffey said this evening her priorities were “ABCD”, representing “ambulances, backlogs, care, doctors and dentists”. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 6 September 2022 -
News Article
NHS and care homes in England to pause routine Covid testing
Patient-Safety-Learning posted a news article in News
Most hospital patients and care home residents in England will no longer be tested for Covid unless they have symptoms, the government has said. From 31 August, NHS and social care staff will also not be offered lateral flow tests unless they fall sick. Free testing for the general public ended in April in England, but continued in some high-risk settings. Health Secretary Steve Barclay said: "This reflects the fact case rates have fallen and the risk of transmission has reduced, though we will continue to closely monitor the situation and work with sectors to resume testing should it be needed." Read full story Source: BBC News (25 August 2022) -
News Article
NHS leaders warn that social care workforce crisis risks patient safety
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
NHS leaders across England say staffing gaps and a lack of capacity in social care are putting the care and safety of patients in the NHS at risk. Almost 250 NHS leaders responding to an NHS Confederation survey say that patients are being delayed in hospital much longer than they should, with the knock-on impact resulting in higher demand on A&E departments and longer ambulance response times. More than 9 in 10 NHS leaders warn of a social care workforce crisis in their area which they expect will get worse this winter. Nearly all NHS leaders say the lack of capacity in social care is putting the care and safety of patients at risk. More than four in five warn that the absence of care packages for people to be able to return home or be moved into a care home is the main reason why medically fit patients are stuck in hospital longer than they should be. Almost all NHS leaders say that the most impactful solution would be better pay for social care staff and want the Government to increase investment in social care as a priority. An acute trust executive director in the South West accused the Government of presiding over a “national scandal.” “If the social care capacity shortfall was solved then we would not be holding ambulances at all, we would have almost no problems with elective recovery and our emergency departments would not be crowded and unsafe,” they said. Another acute trust chair in the East of England added: “The result of using nearly 20 per cent of our beds for patients who are medically fit but need packages of care to return home is an overcrowded A&E, twelve-hour trolley waits and much delayed ambulance handover times. The connection is very clear to us…Until we find a solution to social care staffing and funding, the situation can only get worse.” Commenting on the survey results Lord Victor Adebowale, chair of the NHS Confederation, said: “Decades of delay and inertia have left social care services chronically underfunded and in desperate need of more support. “NHS leaders stand alongside their sister services in social care in wanting a rescue package for the sector. They are sounding the alarm and sending a clear message to Government that the social care system has not been ‘fixed’." Read full story Source: NHS Confederation, 28 July 2022 -
News Article
NHS in England facing worst staffing crisis in history, MPs warn
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
The large number of unfilled NHS job vacancies is posing a serious risk to patient safety, a report by MPs says. It found England is now short of 12,000 hospital doctors and more than 50,000 nurses and midwives, calling this the worst workforce crisis in NHS history. It said a reluctance to decisively plug the staffing gap could threaten plans to tackle the Covid treatment backlog. The government said the workforce is growing and NHS England is drawing up long-term plans to recruit more staff. Former Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt, who chairs the Commons health and social care select committee that produced the report, said tackling the shortage must be a "top priority" for the new prime minister when they take over in September. "Persistent understaffing in the NHS poses a serious risk to staff and patient safety, a situation compounded by the absence of a long-term plan by the government to tackle it," he said. It said conditions were "regrettably worse" in social care, with 95% of care providers struggling to hire staff and 75% finding it difficult to retain existing workers. "Without the creation of meaningful professional development structures, and better contracts with improved pay and training, social care will remain a career of limited attraction, even when it is desperately needed," the report said. Read full story Source: BBC News, 25 July 2022 -
News Article
Norfolk and Norwich Hospital unable to discharge 180 patients
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
A senior hospital nurse said she could not discharge 180 patients due to a lack of "care and support" at home. Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital said among the people that did not need to be in hospital was a patient who had been there for 145 days. Claire Fare, senior discharge matron, said delays "impact on the whole of the flow" of patients. Norfolk County Council's social care department blamed the "national care crisis" for the problems. In June, the hospital, which has about 1,200 beds, pleaded for family and friends to help look after fit patients to ease demand. Melanie Syson, the hospital's discharge coordinator, said there was a person in the hospital ready for discharge that had been there for more than four months. "She is medically fit to be discharged but we are waiting for support to be ready at home," she said. Ms Syson added: "The length of stay of the patients seems to be getting longer." To help cope with the delays, the hospital opened a "home-first unit" in January for patients who did not need acute care but it was unable to discharge. The unit focuses on rehabilitation to try to prevent the patients coming back into hospital or requiring more care at home. Stephanie Ward, the ward sister, said it aimed to "give patients the time they need to do things themselves as much as they can". Read full story Source: BBC News, 15 July 2022 -
News Article
Rehab services ‘very bizarre’ in some places, says NHSE director
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
NHS England’s director of community health has said a new strategy for rehabilitation care is needed, because present coverage is sometimes ‘bizarre’, with other services ‘masquerading’ as rehab. Matthew Winn, who is also Cambridgeshire Community Services Trust CEO and senior responsible officer of the “ageing well” programme in the NHS long-term plan, made the comments in a webinar for local senior clinicians and managers in the sector. He said there was an intention to roll out a national “intermediate care strategy”, describing it as “the essence” of providing rehabilitation and helping hospital patients to “optimise, to recover, to rehab through a skilled multiprofessional team”. They would leave hospital in a “timely pathway” and not need as much social care support afterwards. It comes amid huge pressure to speed up hospital discharge, which often relies on rehab services. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 14 July 2022 -
News Article
Government to pick ‘integration frontrunners’ to test ‘radical new approaches’
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Government will pick five or six ‘integration frontrunner’ areas ‘to lead the way in developing and testing radical new approaches’ to speeding up discharge from acute hospitals. Along with NHS England, ministers today wrote to local NHS and council directors asking for bids to take part by 30 June. They said there was “a need to take a more fundamental look at [how the] system currently manages the discharge of patients, their post-acute care, and their access to high-quality social care”. The “discharge integration frontrunner sites” will focus on exploring “new service models, such as the delivery of a more integrated model for intermediate care across existing health and social care”, and “designing and testing new enabling arrangements, which might include new funding models, more integrated workforce models, or the deployment of new technologies”, their letter said. They said speeding up hospital discharge was “just one” potential benefit from integration and indicated that “future phases” of frontrunners may focus elsewhere. But delayed discharge has been a major pressure on the system over the past year, particularly last winter, and the letter says: “Delayed discharges are one very visible signal that the health and care system remains fragmented and too often fails to deliver joined-up services that meet people’s needs.” Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 21 June 2022 -
News Article
Time for change: The College of Medicine launches its Beyond Pills campaign
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
On Thursday 16 June, The College of Medicine launched its Beyond Pills campaign – calling for Government intervention on over-prescribing – at the Integrated and Personalised Medicine Congress 2022. Around 1.1 billion medicines are currently prescribed unnecessarily. Supported by eminent voices in both the Government and our healthcare system, the Beyond Pills campaign calls for the Government to immediately address the nation’s unsustainable prescription service through re-prescribing and social prescribing. Speaking at the Integrative and Personalised Medicine Congress 2022, The College of Medicine Chair Dr Michael Dixon said: “Medicine, as we know it, is no longer affordable or sustainable. Nor is it able to curb the increase in obesity, mental health problems and most long-term diseases. “A new medical mindset is needed, which goes to the heart of true health care. The advantages and possibilities of social prescription are limitless. “An adjustment to the system now will provide a long-term, sustainable solution for the NHS to meet the ever-increasing demand for funding and healthcare professionals.” The Campaign was established in the wake of the Chief Pharmaceutical Officer’s National Overprescribing Review published in September 2021. The Beyond Pills Campaign aims to reduce drug prescription, expand the number of social prescribing link workers, save crucial funds, and provide support to individuals and local communities hampered by health inequalities. To achieve these goals, it has today launched a campaign that includes six specific actions that need to be taken: Improving medical and healthcare training. Social prescribing and a psychosocial approach to treatment needs to be embedded throughout the curriculum Addressing financial incentives within the NHS. Financial incentives in the system should centre around community health. For those patients already on a cocktail of pills, medication reviews and appropriate deprescribing need to be emphasised Increasing the number of social prescribing link workers. Primary Care Networks need to employ more link workers to enable access to social prescribing for everyone who could benefit Increasing support for the voluntary sector. Government departments need to fund and support voluntary initiatives that encourage healthy communities Empowering individuals and communities. Informing individuals about social prescribing and collaborating with volunteers involved in social prescription and local health creation and showcasing benefits Further systematic research. Mobilising the research community to develop a fully-fledged programme review into topics including the therapeutic efficacy of social prescribing Read full story Source: College of Medicine, 16 June 2022 -
News Article
NHS England reviewing bed capacity
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
The NHS has a low bed base, and NHS England is reviewing ‘how we right-size our capacity’ across hospital, community and ‘virtual’ services, Amanda Pritchard has said. The NHSE chief executive addressed the annual NHS Confederation this week and said: “The NHS has long had one of the lowest bed bases among comparable health systems. And in many respects this reflects on our efficiency and our drives to deliver better care in the community. “But it was true before the pandemic, and it remains true now that we have passed the point at which that efficiency actually becomes inefficient. “So the point has come where we need to review how we right-size our capacity across the NHS. That will of course look at the whole picture of hospital, community and virtual capacity.” Ms Pritchard also highlighted the current pressures on the emergency care system, which has widely been linked to slow discharges from hospital and insufficient social care provision. She cited the “unacceptable rise in 12-hour waits for admission from [accident and emergency]” which “underlines that the issue is flow”, and said “we know we will need to make more progress before winter”. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 15 June 2022 -
News Article
England’s worsening care shortages leave older people struggling
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Hundreds of thousands of older people in England are having to endure chronic pain, anxiety and unmet support needs owing to the worsening shortage of social care staff and care home beds. Age UK has said older people with chronic conditions such as diabetes, high blood pressure and heart failure are increasingly struggling with living in their own homes because of a lack of help with everyday tasks such as getting out of bed, dressing and eating. The decline in the amount of support and care provided to older people is piling pressure on families and carers and leaving the NHS in constant crisis mode, contributing heavily to ambulance queues outside A&E departments, the charity said in a new report It warned that there would be a repeat of the NHS crisis this winter – in which rising numbers of elderly people have been unnecessarily stuck in hospital because of an acute lack of social care – without a shift to preventing unnecessary admissions. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 17 February 2023 -
News Article
'I'm well enough to leave hospital - but I can't'
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
"It would be much better if I was out there than in here," said Roger. The 69-year-old looked wistfully across Newport from the window next to his bed at the Royal Gwent Hospital in Wales. He has been here for three weeks after being admitted with an infection and although he is now well enough to leave, and desperate to do so, he can't. Roger has cerebral palsy and the impact of his recent illness means he needs extra care to be arranged before he can safely go home. Roger is not alone. "At least a quarter of patients in our care of the elderly beds are in a similar position," explained Helen Price, a senior nurse at the hospital. "It is very much a waiting game for that care to be available," she said. Hospitals in Wales are fuller than ever, according to the latest statistics. In the final week of January more than 95% of all acute beds in the Welsh NHS were occupied, which is the highest figure ever recorded. Paul Underwood, who manages urgent care in Aneurin Bevan University Health Board, said there are well over 350 patients medically fit enough to leave hospital. "Roughly a third of patients do not need to be accommodated on those sites and that's extremely difficult," he said. Read full story Source: BBC News, 16 February 2023 -
News Article
NHS to buy care beds to make space in hospitals
Patient-Safety-Learning posted a news article in News
Thousands of NHS patients in England will be moved into care homes as part of the government's plan to ease unprecedented pressure on hospitals. The NHS is being given £250m to buy thousands of beds in care homes and upgrade hospitals amid a winter crisis. The move aims to free up hospital beds so patients can be admitted more quickly from A&E to hospital wards. The plans will be included in an emergency package to be unveiled by Health Secretary Steve Barclay. Helen Whately, minister for care, said, "Getting people out of hospital on time is more important than ever. It's good for patients and it helps hospitals make space for those who need urgent care." Read full story Source: BBC News -
News Article
Patients ‘warehoused’ and ‘lost in the system’ amid rush to discharge
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
More and more older people are being “warehoused” in inappropriate care beds, condemned unnecessarily to long-term care, and “lost” to health and care services, due to the rush to discharge from full hospitals and a lack of community rehab services, leaders have warned. Several senior figures in community and social care have raised the issue with HSJ, warning it has been a growing concern over the past 18 months of severe system pressure following on from acute covid peaks. The Health and Safety Investigation Branch has also raised the issue, telling HSJ inappropriate care placements are leading to harm and readmissions, while a major accountability gap remained over the safety of discharges. The average length of hospital stay has increased compared to pre-Covid, with a big jump in those staying more than three weeks. Many in the NHS put this down to a lack of social care capacity meaning more medically fit people are stuck in hospital. Senior staff in community health and social care services told HSJ hospitals were increasingly demanding rapid discharges, often as part of “surge” measures when they are very full and under pressure to reduce ambulance queues. Homecare cannot be organised, and with suitable step-down and care beds also full, trusts are instead “spot purchasing” space in unsuitable homes which may be a long journey from the person’s home area, and in a different council area. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 5 January 2023 Further reading HSIB interim bulletin - Harm caused by delays in transferring patients to the right place of care -
News Article
NHS hospitals moving patients into hotel to free up beds
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
NHS hospitals are discharging patients into a hotel in a bid to ease demand for beds. Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire trusts are using the hotel for patients who no longer need urgent treatment but need social care. The Integrated Care Board (ICB) for the three trusts has booked the "hotel care facility" for up to 30 patients. A spokesperson for the ICB said care services were "under significant pressure". "This temporary care facility delivered at a local hotel will help us to improve the flow of patients through our hospitals by ensuring more people can be discharged as soon as they are medically fit to leave hospital," they said. The hotel care facility was introduced in late November 2022 and will run until the end of March. It is being provided by CQC-registered homecare company Abicare. The service is being delivered by live-in care workers on a 24/7 basis with visiting clinical teams providing rehabilitation and primary care support, the ICB said. Nadra Ahmed OBE, chair of the National Care Association (NCA), told BBC Radio 4 Today she is concerned about the quality of care in a hotel setting. "This is a short-term solution- what we really need is a robust, sustainable and well-invested social care sector," she said. Read full story Source: BBC News, 5 January 2022 -
News ArticleTechnology that accurately predicts when patients will be ready to leave hospital upon their arrival in A&E is being introduced to solve the NHS bed-blocking crisis. The artificial intelligence (AI) software analyses data including age, medical conditions and previous hospital stays to estimate how long a patient will need to remain. Hospital managers can then alert social care services in advance about the date when patients are expected to be discharged, allowing care home beds or community care packages to be prepared. Nurses said the technology had “revolutionised” their ability to discharge patients on time, meaning people who would otherwise have been stuck in hospital had got home for Christmas. The new technology, developed by the British AI company Faculty, is being tested at four NHS hospitals in Wales belonging to the Hywel Dda health board. Analysis suggests that the tool will save NHS trusts 3,000 bed days and £1.4 million a year by speeding up discharges, which in turn frees beds for elective procedures such as hip replacements. Read full story (paywalled) Source: The Times, 26 December 2022
