MSP fears hospitals face winter beds crisis

Jan 8 2010 by Alison Rennie, Paisley Daily Express

FEARS are growing that Renfrewshire will face a hospital beds’ crisis this winter after a new report revealed a rise in the number of patients being kept in wards because there is nowhere else for them to go.

Latest figures from the Scottish Government show that, in October, there were 46 patients in hospital in Renfrewshire who couldn’t be moved because there was no support, accommodation or funding available.

This figure places Renfrewshire’s Community Health Partnership as the third worst in Scotland, with only Edinburgh City and South Lanarkshire Council having more patients kept in hospital.

Of the 46 patients in the Paisley area who experienced a delay in being discharged – known as ‘bed blocking’ – 19 of them were in hospital for more than six weeks.

Bed blocking happens when a person who is ready to be discharged can’t leave hospital because other necessary care and support or accommodation is not readily accessible and/or funding is not available.

In April, there were a total of 20 delayed discharges at Renfrewshire hospitals – meaning the total more than doubling in the space of six months.

Now Paisley North MSP Wendy Alexander is urging the Scottish Government to do more to ease the problem ahead of an expected increase in the number of patients being admitted to hospital over the winter months.

She told the Paisley Daily Express: “I am deeply concerned to see an increase in bed blocking in Renfrewshire. This is a direct consequence of the SNP’s decision to remove £29million of ring-fenced funding from the health budget.

“Delayed discharges are a problem because any patient, particularly if they are elderly, has a higher risk of hospital-acquired infection for every unnecessary day they spend in hospital.

“This failure represents another broken promise from the SNP and the increasing number of blocked beds leaves our hospitals more exposed to a winter-beds crisis when they already have to cope with a second wave of flu cases.

“Despite the Scottish Government promising to eliminate bed blocking by April 2008, the three national surveys conducted since then show the situation in Renfrewshire Community Health Partnership is worsening, not improving.

“I am writing to the Health Minister Shona Robison to ask her to get the situation under control before we have a winter crisis for the NHS in Renfrewshire.”

Ms Robison admitted the bed blocking figures for Renfrewshire were poor but insisted that progress was being made.

She told the Express: “It is disappointing that there has been an increase in the number of patients delayed in hospital for longer than six weeks in Renfrewshire.

“However, comparable figures from the previous administration in October 2006 show that 30 patients were delayed longer than six weeks, compared with 19 patients in October this year, so progress is being made.

“I take the problem in Renfrewshire very seriously and have recently met with the leader of the council to discuss the issue.

“The Scottish Government’s Joint Improvement Team is now working very closely with the Community Health Partnership and I am confident that improvements will be made.

“It is vital that the zero position is sustained. This should be a standard that is achieved at all times and the results from April last year show it can be done.”