GMB Magazine GMB25 Fusion Summer 2016 | Page 4
GMB IHNS
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BED-B
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ed-blocking – the practice of
keeping a patient in hospital when
they should be discharged, thus
preventing another patient from
taking the bed – increased by 65.9 per cent
in North West hospitals between 2011/12 and
2015/16, according to a new report from GMB.
In 2015 in the North West, NHS patients
who were ready to be discharged but were
kept in hospital due to delays in providing
alternative care were delayed by 229,757
days. This was an increase of 91,234 days
compared with 138,523 days in 2011/12.
Across England there was a 32 per cent
increase in bed-blocking in 2015/16. Patients
kept in hospital due to delays in providing
alternative care were delayed by 1,809,883
days. This was an increase of 436,491 days
compared with 1,373,392 days in 2011/12.
There are a variety of reasons why patients
experience delays in being discharged. These
include sorting out a place in a care home
(27.8 per cent), delays in arranging further
NHS care (18.3 per cent), sorting out care at
a patient’s home (19.9 per cent), interagency
delays (17.1 per cent), delays due to patient or
family choice about future care (12.8 per cent)
and others (4.1 per cent). These figures are for
England for the year 2015/16.
For Lancashire there was an increase of
17,317 days, from 26,756 in 2011/12 to 44,073 in
2015/16. For Cumbria, the increase was 14,617
days, from 16,962 to 31,579. Tameside had 9,636
more days, up from 512 to 13,097. Trafford rose
9,636 days, from 6,002 to 15,638, while for
Manchester it rose 7,971 days, from 10,065 to
18,036. See the table, right, for full details for
the 23 areas in the Region.
DELAYS IN CARE
There are no figures available for the total
number of patients delayed. On one day
at the end of each month the NHS counts
the number of patients in hospital whose
discharge is delayed. For the year 2015/16 for
those 12 days, the total was 63,167 patients.
The data, published by NHS England, was
analysed by GMB. For more information go to:
www.gmb.org.uk/newsroom.
GMB contacted
NHS England for
an explanation of
possible anomalies
in the data regarding
changes between
2011 and 2015.
We were told that
detailed analysis
has not been carried
out and that there
were no resources
available to
investigate further.
Source: NHS Eng
land, Delayed Transfer
of Care
04 FUSION – GMB North West and Irish
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