Bed blocking keeps Merseyside patient in hospital for six years unnecessasrily

THE ECHO can today reveal one of the region’s worst-ever cases of bed-blocking – a patient who has spent more than six years in hospital unnecessarily.

The patient, whose identity has not been revealed, is under the care of the mental health NHS trust covering Knowsley, St Helens, Halton and Warrington, called the Five Boroughs Partnership.A Freedom of Information request by the ECHO revealed the patient has spent 2,398 days on a ward unnecessarily.


Elderly patients suffering from conditions like dementia are often stuck in mental health hospitals because the correct care packages are not available for them in the community.

Many of the region’s hospitals are also still seeing high levels of delayed discharges, with thousands of “bed days” lost.

Dr Peter Connelly, chair of the Royal College of Psychiatrists’ Faculty of Old Age Psychiatry, said: “It is unacceptable terms such as bed-blocking and delayed discharges have not been consigned to history.

“They are an indictment on the lack of forward planning for the increase in the number of older people, particularly those with dementia, which has been known about for many years.

“Although the levels of bed-blocking have fallen in many areas of the country, a disproportionate number of delayed discharges are due to lack of services for those older people with mental illness.

“We need to see better integration of services to ensure when a person with dementia is admitted appropriately to a general hospital, as much is known about them as possible and their needs are identified and treatment initiated at the earliest possible stage.”

A spokeswoman for Five Boroughs Partnership said she could not comment on individual cases, but said it “works closely with commissioning partners in health and social care to minimise any delays in the discharge process.”

Arrowe Park and Clatterbridge hospitals saw a total of 3,677 lost bed days in 2010, and the Royal and Broadgreen had 1,633.

Council have to pay fines when patients are kept in hospital unnecessarily, but not for mental health facilities.

Wirral council paid out £131,600 between April and October last year, and Liverpool £52,000 from January to July.

Knowsley paid out nothing, according to its FOI response.

Cllr Bob Moon, Wirral’s cabinet member for social care, said: “Our adult social services work closely with the hospital trust and NHS Wirral to minimise delayed discharges.

“We fund and support a number of schemes which support people in recovery after they leave hospital.”

Karen Wilson, Mersey Care’s executive director of nursing and care, said: “As a result of concerted efforts, we were able over the last year to achieve a reduction in the number of patients whose discharge from hospital was delayed, from about 70 patients to around 20.

“This was achieved with the help of new posts created to specifically focus on improving discharge arrangements.

“It is important to understand we have a duty of care to inpatients and cannot simply discharge them without the necessary package of ongoing support they need in place.”

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