Wes Streeting responds to reports that patients are waiting up to 9 months to be discharged due to a lack of care available in their community

Wes Streeting MP, Labour’s Shadow Health and Social Care Secretary, responding to media reports finding that patients who are fit to leave hospital are waiting up to 9 months to be discharged, usually because of a lack of care available in their community or at home, said:

“It is absolutely horrifying that patients who are fit to leave hospital are then stuck in hospital beds for up to 9 months. It’s a shocking waste of the best part of a year of someone’s life.

“This is the cost of the Conservatives’ failure on social care over the past 12 years. 

“Labour will recruit more care workers by ensuring full rights at work, decent standards, fair pay, and proper training, as the first step towards a National Care Service. We will ensure care is there for all who need it and free up NHS beds for patients waiting for treatment.”

Ends

Notes

The relevant article can be found here:

https://www.hsj.co.uk/quality-and-performance/patients-fit-for-discharge-stuck-in-hospital-for-up-to-nine-months/7033074.article