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NEWS RELEASE FROM THE
REGISTERED NURSING HOME ASSOCIATION
Issued 20th December 2001
GOVERNMENT LOCKED IN 'IVORY TOWER' MENTALITY OVER
WAITING LISTS AND BED BLOCKING - NURSING HOMES
QUESTION MINISTERS' WILLINGNESS TO LISTEN
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.
The Registered Nursing Home Association warned today that the government was not doing enough to end the scourge of bed blocking.
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, it said. 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. Yet the pressure could be relieved if the 6,000 or so NHS acute beds reported to be blocked at any moment in time across the country were unblocked by the funding of the equivalent number of places in nursing homes and residential care."
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
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