Audit Committee finds that more needs to be done to tackle growing problem of bed-blocking

An Assembly Audit Committee report into delayed transfers of care (also knows as bed-blocking) in the NHS has concluded that more action is needed to make the whole system work effectively and reduce the growing impact of this problem.

The Committee’s report, Tackling Delayed Transfers of Care Across the Whole System, published today, makes a number of recommendations, including a clear local vision of service models to promote the independence of vulnerable older people and the strengthening of processes so that provision is centred on people’s needs for care. The report also says that commissioning is under-developed and needs to ensure that health and social care communities have the appropriate capacity in a wide range of services that promote independence.

The Committee found that the number of people experiencing a delayed transfer of care, has fallen over time but is not a good measure on its own of the extent of the problem because it does not reflect the length of the delays they suffer. A better measure is the number of hospital bed days occupied by people experiencing a delay, and that number in Wales as a whole actually rose by 2 per cent between 2005-06 and 2006-07 from 262,595 to 268,491.

The report recommends that the Assembly Government should align its guidance, budgets, priorities, performance measures and incentives more closely with its vision of the whole system, in particular by improving the current measurement systems which are inaccurate and understate the impact of delayed transfers of care.

David Melding AM, Chair of Audit Committee, said: “Delayed transfers are bad for the people who suffer delay and for the wider health and social care system. The consequences can be very serious, threatening the independence of vulnerable older people, who make up the majority of those experiencing delay. The causes of delayed transfers of care vary widely and are not simply the result of problems in any one part of the health and social care system, so a wide range of measures is needed to deal with the problem and not enough progress has yet been made. I hope the Welsh Assembly Government, local authorities and Local Health Boards will act on our recommendations.”