Decline in delayed discharges from hospital beds in Shropshire

Figures from NHS England show the number of delayed discharges of care across The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust (Sath) and Shropshire Council adult social care services have reduced from an average of 21.2 per day in 2017/18 to 10.4 per day in 2018/19.

It was 39.7 per day in 2016/17.

Adult social care services, as well as acute settings such as hospitals, are expected to maintain or reduce the number of patients who are delayed in such circumstances.

The Government sets each organisation a target to reduce the delays of transfers of care, which occur when a patient is ready to depart and is still occupying a hospital bed.

Initiatives which have helped with the reduction include a fast track service to get frailer patients over 75 quickly assessed, treated and discharged from Royal Shrewsbury Hospital, and SaTH2Home, which was launched to provide same-day domiciliary care for patients awaiting care packages to start or who require support to settle back to their home.

Halved

Nigel Lee, chief operating officer at Sath, said together with community teams, health commissioners and local authorities, the trust has halved the numbers of patients that are 'medically fit' and awaiting transfer compared to last year.

He said: "We now routinely transfer most patients within 48 hours of being fit, which is the national standard.

“We are very pleased to see yet another improvement this year which is testament to the hard work of staff across Sath and the local system, and good news for our patients.

"No one wants to be in hospital longer than they need to be and we will continue to work together with our partners to look at ways of improving further.”

Councillor Dean Carroll, Shropshire Council’s cabinet member with responsibilities for adult social care, said: “I am absolutely delighted the council, Shropshire Clinical Commissioning Group and Sath have again exceeded the Government’s target.

“We know that no one wishes to be in hospital longer than is necessary. Over the past year our adult social care teams have worked extremely hard with our health colleagues to ensure people are discharged as soon as they are well.

“I am very proud that their work has been nationally recognised, having been awarded social work team of the year, as well as being highly commended at the Local Government Chronicle Awards.”

Support

Shropshire’s Integrated Community Services team, jointly run by Shropshire Council's adult social care services and Shropshire Community Health NHS Trust, provides short-term support for patients who are ready to leave hospital.

The team also works closely with partner organisations to identify people who need support to avoid an admission to hospital in the first place.

Steve Gregory, director of nursing at Shropshire Community Health NHS Trust, said: “It is important that patients are cared for in the most appropriate setting for their needs. We work with others within the Shropshire care system to make sure any delay is kept to a minimum.”

Dr Julie Davies, director of performance and delivery at Shropshire Clinical Commissioning Group, said it was the result of relentless hard work by all organisations across the health economy to successfully deliver new and improved ways of working in partnership.

Tanya Miles, assistant director of adult social care at Shropshire Council, added: “Our integrated teams work extremely hard to support people to be discharged from hospital as soon as they are well, and help people avoid hospital admissions. This year their efforts have paid off in that we exceeded the targets that had been set nationally in reducing delayed transfers of care."