Bed Blocking crisis to cost NHS £3.3 billion in next five years
Around 8,500 people a day are stuck in NHS hospitals because there are not enough care homes and the problem will only get worse, says ResPublica
Bed Blocking will cost the NHS £3.3 billion in the next five years, as the number of people stuck in hospitals because there is nowhere for them to live in the community, continues to rise.
In February NHS figures found about 8,500 bed blocking patients are trapped in hospitals every day, a rise of more than a third over two years.
Now a new study from think tank ResPublica suggested the problem was only going to get worse, leaving patients who desperately needed beds left on trolleys in waiting rooms.
"The bed blocking crisis in the NHS is only getting worse - clogging up wards and leaving newly arrived patients on trolleys in hospital corridors."
Phillip Blond, director of ResPublica
Experts behind the study forecast a 24 per cent rise in the number of delayed transfer of care beds between 2015/16 and 2020/21, costing a total of £3.3 billion by 2020/21.
In contrast, caring for bed blocking patients in care homes would cost just £835 million across the entire five-year period, it said.
"This would generate a surplus of £2.4 billion currently due to be spent on inappropriate in-hospital care for patients," the study said.
Experts also pointed to the non-financial risks of bed blocking, including increasing risk of infection for patients, emotional poor health and a loss of independence and confidence.
"For older people, a hospital stay is often associated with marked functional decline - an inability to carry out tasks, including self-care, which were previously non-problematic," it said.
Phillip Blond, director of ResPublica, said: "The way health and social care work together needs to improve dramatically.
"The bed blocking crisis in the NHS is only getting worse - clogging up wards and leaving newly arrived patients on trolleys in hospital corridors.
"Meanwhile, as ResPublica showed last year, a staggering 37,000 beds could be lost in residential care homes over the next five years because the sector is losing money for every publicly-funded resident.
"To redress both of these awful situations, care homes should be given the necessary financial resources as an appropriate alternate care setting to alleviate the problem of bed blocking."
Dame Joan Bakewell said the report highlighted the crucial role played by care homes Photo: ANDREW CROWLEY
The report said the Better Care Fund set up by the Government to better integrate health and social care had so far failed to stem the rising number of bed blockers.
Backing the report, Conservative MP Dr Sarah Wollaston, chairwoman of the Commons health committee, said: "This report from ResPublica provides compelling evidence that social care cannot be seen in isolation from the NHS.
"There is an urgent need to improve access to social care and to address the delayed transfers of care and this can no longer be sidelined by policy makers."
Baroness Joan Bakewell, a champion for older people, said: "Care homes are vital to our community and most importantly to the people who live in them. I welcome ResPublica's report that acknowledges the important role that care homes play in our society and proposes important mechanisms for ensuring their sustainable future."
In February, the Government review led by Lord Carter of Coles found an increase in delayed transfers of care to around 5,500 patients per day.