Council chiefs have apologised to a 100-year-old woman who is still in hospital a month after doctors said she was well enough to go home.
Gwyneth Lucas is still stuck in the Bristol Royal Infirmary as one of thousands of ‘delayed discharges’ caused by a crisis in the social care sector that her local MP has described as ‘a disgrace’.
Karin Smyth, Labour MP for South Bristol, said the scandal was putting ‘huge unnecessary pressure on the NHS and families’ across the country.
READ MORE: Woman STILL in hospital a month after being 'discharge ready'
Bristol Live revealed earlier this week the plight of Mrs Lucas, who went into hospital for just a couple of days after suffering minor injuries in a fall at her home in Knowle.
Doctors said she was fit enough to go home, but minutes before she was about to be discharged on December 21 last year, care provider Agincare withdrew the package of care they had been providing, leaving her stuck in hospital.
That was on December 21 last year, and she’s been in the BRI ever since, through Christmas and her 100th birthday a few days later. Visiting was banned by hospital bosses in early January because of covid rules, so for weeks her distraught family was unable to even visit her. It was only this week, after intervention from Bristol Live and her daughter Rita contacting the NHS Trust chief executive, that visits have been allowed again on compassionate grounds.
Now, pressure is mounting on Bristol City Council, which commissions care services for Gwyneth and thousands of other people across the city, and Agincare to sort out the issues that led to the care package being dropped.
A spokesperson for Bristol City Council said they were trying to solve the problems urgently.
“We apologise to Gwyneth and her family for delays in ensuring appropriate support is in place to discharge her from hospital,” he said. “We are working with partners to do everything we can to ensure she has the right support in place as soon as possible.
“Care services are experiencing delays for people waiting to leave hospital due to the ongoing pressures of Covid on staff and additional demand in the sector.
“Action is being taken to help reduce this pressure and delays in discharge are starting to reduce. Working with partners in health services as part of the Integrated Care Bureau, we aim to ensure patients are discharged to an appropriate setting and provided support so they can remain as independent as they can and return home whenever possible.
“This case is being supported by the Council through the Integrated Discharge Service and support is being organised urgently,” he added.
Mrs Lucas’s local MP Karin Smyth said there were around 10,000 people across the country in the same situation - doctors said they were medically fit to be discharged, but were still in hospital, because of the crisis in the care sector.
That crisis has been caused by staffing shortages, councils being starved of money from central Government and a shortage of spaces in care homes and residential homes.
“It is a disgrace that thousands of medically fit patients are currently stranded in hospital when they should be at home with family or in a supported setting,” said Mrs Smyth.
“This is putting huge unnecessary pressure on the NHS and families. Short term cash or threatening legal action are not solutions, and the Government must do better to bring about immediate change.
“The Minister of State for Health explicitly said that those who remain in hospital when no longer required ‘affects not only the system but individuals’ physical and mental health’, yet instructed his MP’s to vote down Labour’s amendment during the Committee Stage of the Health and Social Care Bill which would have addressed this issue.
“Social care support is a lifeline, not a luxury. It’s urgent the Government do something to strengthen the social care system now to help people get the care they need at home and in the community to prevent delayed discharge from hospital, rather than wait years for money from the national insurance tax rise to come in before taking any action,” she added.
Mrs Smyth said recent findings from the National Care Forum showed that care homes are missing a third of necessary staff, ‘further compounding the crisis in our social care sector’. More than half the care worker shortages were long-term vacancies.
“Meanwhile, the Government’s failure to fund and secure a future social care workforce is putting families under further pressure,” she said.
“Labour would drive a ‘home first’ approach, shifting the focus of support to prevention and early intervention with a strong social care system that would go a long way to fixing both spiraling admissions and spikes in delayed patient discharge,” she added.
A spokesperson for Agincare had said the situation was a complex one in relation to Mrs Lucas’ situation.
“This is a complex situation, and we appreciate the upset it causes for Gwyneth to remain in hospital,” he said earlier this week.
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“The health, safety and wellbeing of those who draw on our care is our absolute priority and we always work very closely with them, their loved ones and other agencies in their best interests; in this situation and at the time in question, our understanding is that all parties were unable to agree a safe and appropriate package of care to safely meet Gwyneth’s needs in order for her to safely return home, and we called into the recent meeting to again give our view.
“We understand that conversations are taking place between agencies, which include the family, to agree the best way forward to enable Gwyneth to safely leave hospital; and we are on hand to help with an appropriate package of care if required.
“Our Bristol home care service is fully regulated by the CQC, and was rated Good at recent inspection,” he added.
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