Our response to NHS England's Delayed Transfers of Care Statistics
NHS England has today published it’s latest statistics on delayed transfers of care.
The delayed transfer of care statistics for April 2014-2015 highlights an overall increase in delayed discharge, despite a spike in discharge over the Christmas period, and an increase from 4,207 in April 2014 to 4,742 and delayed discharge peaking in January 2015 at 5,221.
In response to the statistics, our Chair, Anna Bradley, said:
"The figures from NHS England show that, despite a spike in discharge during certain months, the number of people being kept in hospital when deemed fit to leave has increased steadily over the past 12 months - with the number of people kept in hospital significantly higher in April this year in comparison to April 2014.
“This is entirely consistent with the findings of our special inquiry into unsafe discharge.
"Working with over 100 local Healthwatch and hearing from over 3000 in-patients of various services, we have heard about how a poor co-ordination of services and a lack of consideration for patient experience can result in far too many people being kept in hospital longer than necessary.
“At worst there may be disagreements about who should be paying for the care package that will be required in the community, but often there is simply a failure to plan ahead for discharge and work with all the relevant service providers.
"It is important that patients, their families and their carers are involved in planning how and when they are going to leave hospital from the moment they are first admitted. This will ensure people get home sooner - which is where we all want to be - as well as freeing up thousands of beds and saving money."
