Tuesday 27 January 2015

INITIATIVE TO SOLVE THE PROBLEM OF BED BLOCKING

A further £100 million over three years is to be invested in the NHS to help reduce the numbers of people waiting to be discharged from hospital has been announced by Shona Robison. 

The funding will be used to support health boards and local authorities deliver good quality care and support for people at home.

Whatever your politics this is surely a good use of our money. 

When you have to be in hospital, that's where you have to be. I imagine very few people actually enjoy it, but it has to be.

But once you no longer need the hands-on 24-hour care, surely all most people want is to get out and finish your recovery in the comfort of you own home.

It's a win win situation too, because hospital beds are expensive and the fewer that are being used when they need not be, the more we can cut waiting times and improve the service we provide to their occupants. 

"Bed blocking" as it is sometimes called, has been a problem for as long as I can remember. It's good that the government is investing money to tackle it.

2 comments:

  1. I can think of no better use for the money, though I doubt it will be enough. I have to say that they discharged my late Mother in Law home but found that after 10 days where she had to have 5 care visits a day and she was still not eating or behaving herself and she ended up in the Assessment Centre in Borders General. It might have been better had this step been missed out in her case. They knew she had dementia and had classic symptoms. So great for those who can manage but this money needs to be used so that people have longer than a few fifteen minutes a day. One lady I know of was unhappy being woken at 8am and put into her bed clothes at 6 in the evening.
    It is a difficult problem, but all good considering.

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    Replies
    1. I doubt that we will ever get it right for everyone Helena, because every person has different needs. It's so complex.

      Most I think want to get home, where they have their own things around them, and their privacy, but I imagine that there are some people who rather like being in hospital because life at home is lonely and drab, and at least in hospital there's a friendly nurse and a passable meal and other folk to talk to.

      I'm sure that the pressure on hospitals to discharge people as quickly as possible is fierce, from the patient, their relatives and the hospital itself, given that the beds always seem to be needed for someone else.

      As you say, the money won't be enough.

      It never is, and I suspect that that is the case even in countries where social welfare comes first. I'm sure if we asked people in Norway or Denmark, they would complain about the system.

      I think we probably need more day centres for people like your mother in law who don't eat or look after themselves when alone because they are still ill.

      An ageing population is a huge problem for our society and the UK policy of simply expecting people to work longer isn't the answer. We seem to be capable of keeping people alive for a lot longer without necessarily improving their quality of life.

      Mind I have no idea what the answer is.

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