By stewartb

More numbers designed to shock from the British Labour Party’s spokesperson on talking down Scotland’s health and social care services! Any context offered? The numbers on delayed discharge are to be deplored but are they really big by comparison to those incurred by Scotland’s peers?

From the BBC News website, Wales section (November 11, 2024): ‘Staff burnout warning over plan to free NHS beds’ (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cy5lqn19275o )

‘At any one time, there are about 1,600 patients, mostly elderly, in hospital beds in Wales who are otherwise fit to be discharged. In some hospitals, this is 20% of all beds.

‘But delays around assessment and getting the right care support in place means patients can spend an average of five weeks in hospital unnecessarily. The Welsh NHS Confederation says the fragility of social services presents a “huge challenge”.’

Some rapidly found context: from Public Health Scotland (December 3, 2024) on latest delayed discharge statistical release: ‘At the October 2024 census, there were 2,030 people delayed.’

And also from PHS: ‘The average (median) length of delay for people delayed at the October 2024 census was 28 days. This is slightly shorter than September (29 days) and the same as August and July.’

From Wales Online (November 11, 2024): ‘Patient spends more than a year in hospital despite being fit enough to leave – We have had someone in the hospital over a year. Some patients have a really poor experience,’ doctor admits as Welsh Government sets target to discharge 300 of the longest-waiting patients in the next 50 days’.

‘The Welsh Government said the NHS in Wales – like the NHS in other parts of the UK – is experiencing persistently high levels of delayed discharges which negatively affect people’s health and the health and care system.’ (my emphasis)

From Healthcare Management (November 12, 2024): ‘Fifty-day challenge aims to speed-up hospital discharge and community care – The Welsh Government has launched a 50-day challenge to help people return home from hospital and ease winter pressures’.

The Director of the Welsh NHS Confederation is quoted: ‘The capacity to support people in communities and the ability to discharge medically fit patients from hospital remains a huge challenge for all health boards and social care partners, due to the immense system pressures. In some hospitals 20% of beds are occupied by patients waiting to leave.’ At what cost – to patients in Wales, to staff, to the British Labour Party’s Welsh government budget?

The Director added: “Record levels of demand on health and care services are not going anywhere and will continue to be a huge challenge with existing resources. Unless the broader challenges of demand and capacity across the whole health and care system are addressed, a 50-day challenge and action plan won’t be enough to achieve a sustainable health and care system in the long term.”

But help is at hand – is it not? The Labour Secretary of State for Health and Social Care – he who previously acknowledged that “all roads lead back to Westminster” when asked about problems with health services – has acted decisively on social care. He has set up a ‘commission’ to report in three years time – just ahead of another Westminster election.

Footnote - Scotland has 1.74 times the population of Wales so all things being equal might have been expected to have around 2 800 delayed discharges. However, it had 2 030, 770  or 27% fewer.