NHS bosses in Liverpool are looking into how they can relieve the stress on social care to get people out of the city’s struggling hospitals.
As of January 6, almost 400 patients across the Royal, Aintree and Broadgreen Hospitals no longer met the criteria to reside and therefore no longer needed to be in a hospital bed, according to Liverpool University Hospital Foundation Trust (LUHFT) data. Of these, 45% - 180 people - were having to remain in hospital while they waited for a care home.
Now, in a bid to relieve pressure on Liverpool’s three hospitals, James Sumner, LUHFT chief executive, said it was considering bringing in staff of its own to support care homes across the city and get people out of vital beds. In a report to board members, Mr Sumner said LUHFT has one of the lowest rates in the country of discharging patients who are medically fit, with only one in 20 (5%) being able to leave when ready.
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Mr Sumner’s report added: “We frequently have between 300-350 patients in our hospital who no longer need our care. This can have a detrimental impact on patients’ health, especially for the elderly, who can become less mobile and in need of greater follow up care and support.”
Addressing board members at the Royal, Mr Sumner said he was looking at if the Trust could offer staff to fill gaps at care homes to get patients out of hospital sooner. He said the Trust would consider “trying to direct support” which could lessen the reliance on agencies for social care.
He said at any time there are up to 80 beds available in social care, but no staff to support these vacancies. His report added: “We are working closely with our local partners in adult and social care daily, to ensure these patients are cared for in the right place by the right teams.
“We recognise that these partners too face huge, long standing challenges, and we are all pulling together as best as possible with the resources available.” The pressures faced across Liverpool are replicated across Merseyside and Cheshire.
Analysis of capacity across the region said around 1,000 people currently remain in hospital despite being medically fit for discharge – “leading to assessment, treatment and ambulance handover and response delays.” The report, to be discussed by Liverpool Council’s social care and health committee, said “intensive and focused work is underway with health and care partners, including those in local Government, to urgently address this challenge.”
It said while the NHS continues to focus on recovering services and reducing waiting lists built by the covid-19 pandemic, work is “inevitably being impacted by the current pressures” and some routine appointments and planned operations are being rescheduled as a result. National funding of £19m is being utilised across Cheshire and Merseyside to support hospital discharge processes and ensure more care packages are available in the community, while an average of 338 escalation beds have been opened to help cope with demand.
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