NEWS RELEASE FROM THE
REGISTERED NURSING HOME ASSOCIATION
Issued 20th December 2001
'FIDDLING' OF WAITING LISTS AT SALFORD ROYAL HOSPITALS NHS TRUST - GOVERNMENT INACTION ON BED BLOCKING AND FUNDING OF COMMUNITY CARE MAY HAVE CONTRIBUTED
'Fiddling' of the waiting list figures at Salford Royal Hospitals NHS Trust might have been less likely if the government had taken firmer action to prevent 'bed blocking' in NHS hospitals, it was claimed today.
According to the Registered Nursing Home Association (RNHA), making sure acute hospital beds are not 'blocked' because of delayed discharges would help remove one of the pressures which led some of the 'fiddling' of waiting list figures recently exposed by the National Audit Office.
Lack of funding for nursing home and residential care home places was preventing many older patients from being discharged once their hospital treatment had been completed, said the RNHA. As a result, beds were unavoidably 'blocked' and people waiting to be admitted for planned treatment were having to wait longer than necessary.
Commented RNHA chief executive officer Frank Ursell: "This vicious circle has been going on for far too long. The government is a long way from breaking it. Hospitals are under far too much pressure. Many of them have the equivalent of one or two wards where beds are blocked by patients who, if the funds were available, could have been discharged to local nursing homes and residential care homes. It would be interesting to know exactly how many beds have been blocked in the Salford Trust over the past year or two."
He added: "What we are seeing unfold before our eyes is yet another part of a complex tragedy. Under-funding of health care in the community has contributed directly to bed blocking in hospitals, which leads to longer waiting lists, which puts pressure on managers expected to meet government targets. Of course, there is no excuse for cheating. But government policy probably made it more tempting for a minority of managers to fiddle the books in order to avoid the wrath of their political masters.
"The under-funding also leads to financial pressures on nursing homes, which results in more and more closures, which reduces the number of places available and makes it more difficult for hospitals to discharge patients into the community even if the money is made available to support them."
The RNHA is campaigning hard for additional resources for the nursing home sector so that older hospital patients who need long-term nursing care do not have to stay on an acute ward an hour longer than is necessary.
Said Mr Ursell: "Sadly, there is no sign that the government is listening. In fact, it is proving virtually impossible to get a response from ministers when you write to them. The government has retreated into an ivory tower and does not seem to want to engage in dialogue with anyone who challenges its strategy, which is manifestly failing to deliver the goods."
END
For further information and comment, please contact:
Frank Ursell, Chief Executive Officer, Registered Nursing Home Association
Tel: 0121-454 2511 or mobile 07785 227000
Note to editors:
1. A National Audit Office investigation found that, at Salford Royal Hospitals NHS Trust, nearly 1,400 people were affected by inappropriate adjustments to waiting list figures.
2. The Trust was one of nine over the country to be found to have had inaccurate waiting list figures.
3. Across the country, government figures have suggested that there are around 6,000 acute hospital beds blocked at any one time because patients whose treatment has been completed cannot be discharged to nursing homes and residential care. For many hospitals, this is likely to equate to at least one whole ward or possibly as many as two wards. The exact number of blocked beds will vary between hospitals and within hospitals from week to week and even from day to day.
4. Between 1998 and 2001, a total of nearly 22,000 nursing homes beds were lost across England because lack of funding for State-assisted patients meant the 650 homes concerned could no longer continue to operate.
5. In the North West, over the past two years alone as many as 5,394 nursing home beds have been lost and 139 nursing homes have closed their doors for good.
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