Blocked beds hit hospitals (From Witney Gazette)

Blocked beds hit hospitals

8:40pm Thursday 24th January 2008 in Headlines By Victoria Owen

PATIENTS waiting for community care are blocking the equivalent of four Oxfordshire hospital wards because the county council is failing to deliver vital services, according to NHS managers.

The Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals NHS Trust's chief executive said Oxfordshire County Council did not have the "political will" to reduce the problem.

ORH chief executive, Trevor Campbell Davis, said it was vital patients were discharged as soon as they were well enough, so beds were not blocked to new admissions at Oxford's John Radcliffe and Churchill Hospital and the Horton, Banbury.

But while the trust allowed for a maximum of 50 delayed discharges at any one time - despite a nationally accepted level of 20 - staff were currently struggling to look after 80 people a day who needed care elsewhere - in community hospitals, nursing homes or through home help.

The number equalled about four wards, taking about seven per cent of their overall beds.

Mr Campbell Davis said: "Making sure we care for these patients appropriately is one of our highest priorities.

"It's therefore doubly important that when we need to move patients, we can do so.

"Sadly, we haven't been able to do that.

"We're working closely with Oxfordshire Primary Care Trust and the county council. But sometimes because the hospital is the point of safety and last resort, it's simply more straightforward for our partners to leave patients in hospital when they should be elsewhere.

"I'm concerned that, for a number of reasons, the county council is not giving us the highest priority to move patients out of our hospitals or community hospitals.

"The PCT is also having difficulty moving patients into social care.

"On the ground, social services staff are being helpful. But, I believe, sometimes the political will is just not there."

He has called for a meeting to tackle the issue.

Jim Couchman, county council cabinet member for social and community care, said the authority was praised last year by the Commission for Social Care Inspection for the way it dealt with delayed transfers of care.

It had created 22 extra home care packages for people in community hospitals, an additional five transitional care home places until March, and another eight places in the north of the county - and a first response service to promote independent living.

Mr Couchman added: "As Mr Campbell Davis is aware, we've worked closely with the ORH and PCT to review the system for discharging patients from hospital."

PCT community health services director. Penny Astrop, said: "Some of the underlying problems aren't about money, but about recruiting staff. This was a particular problem over the Christmas and New Year period."