Bed-blocking up by third in recent years costing NHS £800m annually, says GMB

By The Press Association8th June 2016News EnglandHospitals, Integrated Care, News England, NHS, Older People, Social Care, Vulnerable Adults

The number of days patients remain in hospital because of bed blocking has risen by a third in recent years, highlighting the scale of the crisis, a report has revealed.

NHS patients in England who were ready to be discharged spent 1.8 million days in hospitals in the past year, an increase of over 430,000 compared with 2011/12, according to a study by the GMB union.

The biggest increases were in the North West (up by 91,000), South East (88,900), South West (83,000), east of England (57,000) and London (37,000), the research showed.

The report followed data by the National Audit Office last month showing that delays in discharging older patients from hospital when they no longer need care is costing the NHS in England more than £800 million a year.

Rehana Azam, the GMB’s national secretary for public services, speaking at the union’s annual conference in Bournemouth, said: “Bed-blocking, which is a millstone around the neck of the NHS, has got considerably worse since the Tories took control of the nation’s finances.

“Bed-blocking is now a problem made in Downing Street and the Prime Minister and the Chancellor of the Exchequer are wholly responsible for it.

“The severe cuts in local authorities’ social services provision is the major contributory factor for bed-blocking getting worse.

“Councils have had to shunt the problem to the NHS. Councils have not been able to accept the patients from the NHS because they have been starved of funds.

“The Government has refused to fund the NHS fairly and in recent years health spending has fallen well short of GDP. As the fifth richest country, it’s dire how our old and vulnerable are being treated.”

Reasons for delaying the discharge of patients included waiting for a place in a care home, or delays in arranging further NHS care, said the GMB.

A Department of Health spokesman said: “Patients should never be stuck in hospital unnecessarily and we are taking action to make health and social care more integrated.

“As well as funding the NHS’s own plan for the future with £10 billion, we are giving local authorities access to up to £3.5 billion extra a year for adult social care.”