More than 50 patients at Scarborough Hospital have been deemed fit to leave but cannot be discharged due to a lack of care packages and placements.
As of Tuesday, November 22, 56 patients at Scarborough hospital were ready to be discharged but were waiting on a package of care or a temporary or long-term placement.
This follows reports of lengthy ambulance queues outside Scarborough Hospital, with patients having to be treated in the back of ambulances.
At the time, the NHS said the “extreme pressure” was caused by high numbers of patients waiting to be discharged, which resulted in patients waiting longer for beds to become available.
However, it was also announced on Tuesday that North Yorkshire will receive over £2m of a Government discharge fund to
“speed up patient discharge, free up hospital beds, reduce ambulance handover times and improve capacity in social care.”
According to the York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, the number of patients who meet the criteria to discharge in acute sites in York, Scarborough and Bridlington but are waiting on a package of care, or a temporary or long-term placement, is 130.
A spokesperson for the trust said:
“Clearly we would like to see fewer patients delayed in hospital beds, whatever the reason, and we are working hard with our local authorities and other providers to work towards ensuring that only those patients who need acute care are in hospital.”
Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, the spokesperson added:
“We need to make sure that patients who are fit to leave hospital are discharged safely and are able to recover in the right place, with the right support.”
A lack of available social care has been highlighted as a factor in causing the discharge backlogs in hospitals. Board papers from the NHS Trust’s meeting in November, propose exploring “the development of a domiciliary social care service to support the discharge of patients who do not have the right to reside”.
According to the same documents, the chair of the Trust’s board will
“write a letter of concern on behalf of the board to the integrated care systems in relation to the operational pressures and in particular the discharge challenges”.
The Department of Health and Social Care has promised £2m of funding to North Yorkshire County Council to improve patient discharge as part of a wider £500m package for integrated care boards and local authorities.
Health and Social Care Secretary, Steve Barclay, said the funding could be used to purchase
“supportive technology boosting domiciliary care capacity or physiotherapists and occupational therapists to support recovery at home”.
However, according to a survey conducted by the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services, 94 per cent of councils have said they lack the funding or the workforce to meet adult social care costs this winter.
It comes amid increasing adult social care pressures, with rising costs, inflation, and workforce shortages contributing to the current situation.
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