York | Archive | 2007 | May | 29
From the archive, first published Tuesday 29th May 2007.
HEALTH bosses have revealed their latest scheme for combating bed blocking - sending patients 15 miles down the A19 from York to Selby.
Since April, a handful of patients every week have been sent to Selby War Memorial Hospital when they are medically fit to leave York.
The scheme has been introduced by the county's healthcare providers in an attempt to cut down on the numbers of people - often elderly - who are blocking beds which are needed for other patients.
But it has sparked complaints from people who say it makes it difficult for relatives to visit.
Don Parlabean, chairman of the York Older People's Assembly, said: "My concern is that they're taking people away from their family. It makes it very, very difficult for their families to be able to go and visit them. It's bad enough to be able to go into York Hospital to visit. It's rather an impersonal way of doing things.
"There are places like Archways (an intermediate care centre in York) which were places for bed blockers to go into. That's what Archways was set up for and which the PCT has cut back.
"With the availability of beds in there, surely that would be a lot easier and a lot cheaper and a lot more beneficial for families - it's only just across the road from the hospital."
Under the new system, patients who can leave hospital but are not able to go straight home are sent by ambulance to Selby - where the PCT has re-opened eight beds to accommodate them.
On Friday of last week, all eight beds were occupied. Bosses from York Hospital and the PCT acknowledged that the new system was inconvenient for relatives - but said it was important for patients to be given the appropriate care.
They also said it was only a temporary measure while longer-term solutions were being worked through.
Gary Hardman, director of nursing and patient care for the PCT, said four or five patients had gone to Selby in the first week of the scheme's operation.
He said the scheme was not offering the same kind of care for patients as centres like Archways.
He said: "The real issue is when patients no longer need to be in an acute hospital bed, we need to do all we can to support them in their discharge.
"Although it's not ideal for the patient, or certainly not for their family and friends, patients are being cared for in Selby by very experienced staff and often patients are there for only a few days. The medical and nursing (care) we have been able to tailor specifically for their individual needs."
Hospital chief executive Jim Easton said: "These are patients who we don't think should be in hospital. We do understand that geographically, it's not ideal for all those patients so we've had some understandable complaints expressed from relatives."
Delayed discharge causes cash woes
BED blocking - or delayed discharge - is a major cost headache for NHS bosses.
Last year, we revealed how 14 years had been lost in wasted bed days at York Hospital in 2004/5 because of patients taking up space when they were medically fit to leave.
That came at a cost of nearly £2million - most of which had to be shouldered by the NHS.
Leaders from the local Primary Care Trust (PCT) have made cutting down on delayed discharges one of their priorities, which is why the latest scheme has been introduced.
It costs about £300 a day to keep patients in an acute hospital bed like York. Elderly people are sometimes delayed in leaving hospital if they are waiting for a nursing home place or social services home care package to become available.
York Hospital is also axing nearly 100 beds this year to cope with a drop in income from the PCT.
This has made it very important for hospital bosses to get people out of hospital when they are fit to leave - so that other emergency patients will not have to be turned away.
© Newsquest Media Group 2008