Hospital patients wait a month to be discharged due to lack of residential care, charity claims

Elderly patients are being forced to wait a month to be discharged from hospital due to a “crisis” in residential care, costing the NHS more than £8,000 per person, a leading charity has claimed.

The health service has wasted more than £526 million on more than 1.9 million lost bed days since June 2010 due to delays in hospital discharges, according to figures obtained by Age UK.

Older people now have to wait on average a day longer in hospital before finding a residential care home place compared to four years ago, the charity warned.

In the last year patients had to wait 30 days to be transferred to a residential care home, while those in need of grab rail or ramps fitting at their homes had to wait for 27.3 days, according to Age UK.

Patients in need of a social care package to be prepared before they can go home are waiting an average 28.6 days in total, five per cent longer than in 2010.

An NHS bed costs around £1,900 a week compared to about £530 for a place in residential care, meaning a 30-day wait in hospital costs the taxpayer £8,143.

Long waits are partly the result of a £1.2 billion cut in social care funding – equivalent to 15.4 per cent of the budget – in the past four years, Age UK said.

Caroline Abrahams, charity director of Age UK, said: “The marked rise since 2010 in the length of time people are being forced to linger in hospital because of a delayed assessment, care home place, home care package or home adaptation is an outcome of the crisis in social care.

“It is crazy to waste expensive NHS resources in this way, when it would be much more cost effective and better for older people to fund social care properly instead.

“Waiting in hospital a month or more for social care to be organised can also undermine an older person’s chances of recovery and be profoundly upsetting for them and their families too.”

But the Department of Health disputed the figures, claiming that hospital discharge times had improved, with the total number of bed days lost due to social care delays down by 14 per cent since 2012.

A Department of Health spokesperson said: “We do not recognise these figures. In fact, social care services have improved significantly and are ensuring people get out of hospital more quickly.”

Age UK, which works to improve the lives of older people, said the social care cuts were largely due to reduced local government funding.

It warned that underfunding meant access to publicly-funded social care is increasingly restricted with nearly nine in ten local authorities only able to help if patients have “substantial” or “critical” needs.

Many older people who struggle with everyday tasks such as getting out of bed and dressing, bathing, preparing meals or doing the shopping are assessed as only having “low” or “moderate” needs and so do not qualify for any help at all, Age UK said.

This toughening up of the criteria means than the number of people aged 65 and over receiving social care services fell by 27.2 per cent, or more than 335,000 people, between 2005/06 and 2012/13, according to the charity.

Age UK warned the absence of support will leave many older people more vulnerable to crises which could result in them being readmitted to hospital.

Miss Abrahams added: “Investing in social care would unblock the log jam and help our hospitals to work more efficiently.

“A properly resourced care system would transform many older people’s lives for the better and would make financial sense as well. And just think how many more people of all ages could get speedier treatment in hospital if the social care support was there for the patients who can’t be discharged without it.

“The best thing the Government could do today is to say they will set the national eligibility criteria for social care at a generous level and commit the increased funding this requires.”

The Department of Health said the system is being reformed so all those in need of social care will be assessed on the same detailed national criteria from next April, preventing some local authorities from offering less than others.
 

Source The Telegraph