More than 30 beds at East Surrey Hospital are blocked every day due to delays in getting care for patients at home or in the community.
East Surrey Hospital in Redhill is the primary hospital for Crawley residents needing high level care. Winter statistics from NHS England show that in the week before Christmas there were on average 32 beds occupied each day by patients who no longer need hospital care. The national average was 21.
Michael Wilson, chief executive of Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust, which runs East Surrey Hospital, said: “Our hospital is just one part of a larger health system and delays can occur when patients are moving into social care funded placements or when patients self-fund their on-going care.
“We recognise we are higher than the national average during this period and as part of our preparation for the notoriously challenging winter period, we have been working with community providers in Surrey and Sussex involved in the whole local health economy to put in place additional facilities and to help improve their processes to allow patients to move from our hospital beds as soon as they are well enough to leave our care, and into other more appropriate health care settings for their needs.”
County councils also play a role in arranging care at home, in a nursing home or community hospitals, such as in Crawley or Horsham.
West Sussex County Council has a team helping people to live independently with care and/or adaptations to the home as well as a free 13-week package of telecare support to help people to live at home using alarms, monitors, stair lifts or grab rails.
A spokesman said: “Of course the majority of patients make their own arrangements with their families but where they need additional support we call upon ‘home from hospital’ in which we provide intensive support after someone is discharged or interim beds in care homes or nursing homes for customers who are ready to leave hospital but are not ready to return home. The work we have done has meant that levels of delayed discharges attributable to social care are lower than other local authorities in the south east.
“However, with an ageing population winter will always be a challenging time for the health and care system.”
A Surrey County Council spokesman said 800 patients have already benefitted from new shift patterns meaning staff were working to discharge people in evenings and weekends.
Source: crawleyobserver.co.uk