The Liberal Democrats are calling for a new dedicated winter
discharge unit to stop thousands of patients being trapped
unnecessarily in hospital over the festive period amidst a
perfect storm of doctors strikes and winter pressures.
The unit would use a new £90m fund to deliver a surge of locum
doctors during discharge bottlenecks to free up doctors on shift,
backed by 24/7 patient transport, and 5,000 emergency social and
home care packages a week over the Christmas period.
It comes as a Freedom of Information request by the party reveals
the scale of the crisis in our NHS and social care which is
leaving patients waiting hundreds of days to be discharged.
Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust admitted that their longest
delay for a patient to be discharged last year was 268 days,
which is almost 9 months. Surrey and Sussex Health Care NHS Trust
had similarly eye-watering waits, with their longest hospital
discharge hitting 196 days, University Hospitals Birmingham NHS
Foundation Trust left a patient waiting to be discharged for 193
days, or over 6 months.
Warrington & Halton Teaching Hospitals NHS foundation trusts
reported their longest waits of 162 days, whilst Tameside &
Glossop Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust revealed their
longest day was 154 days. This is the equivalent of over 5
months.
In December 2024, even without strikes or record levels of flu,
20,000 people had a delay being discharged of longer than four
days, with 2,553 facing delays of over 21 days. The cost of
delayed discharge has been estimated by the Kings Fund
at £395 per bed, per night. Last December, more than 10,000
patients a day remained in hospital who were no longer meeting
the criteria to stay, suggesting a cost to the NHS in excess of
£122m.
NHS bosses have warned that the strikes, which will take place
from the 17th to the 22nd of December, will be particularly
disruptive, falling just before Christmas, and emphasised the
importance of sufficient staffing to get people discharged to see
their families.
Liberal Democrat Care and Carers Spokesperson said:
“This winter, thousands of families face the heartbreaking
prospect of their loved ones being trapped in hospital. And
thanks to a perfect storm of strikes and chaos in the face of
winter pressures, many more patients will spend Christmas in the
hospital this year.
“Liberal Democrats are putting forward a bold plan to ensure
thousands more patients get home for Christmas. Through round the
clock transport, extra social care places and funding for extra
locum shifts when they are most needed the government can and
must get them home.
“Time is ticking - the Government has less than two weeks to save
Christmas for families up and down the country.”
ENDS
Notes to Editor
The FOI data can be found here.
NHS bosses warning on the impact of strikes was
reported here.
December 2024 figures can be found here
Kings Fund analysis here
The social care places are equivalent to all the people who had
to stay more than 3 days longer than they should have done in
2024 (around 20,000).
