|
|
|
|
||
|
||
|
|
||
| SEARCH | SUBSCRIBE | ||
|
 |
Grant
to cut 'bed-blocking' BBC
news online
The
government has given councils across the Kent
County Council has said it intends to take the gamble of spending its £1.2m
grant in advance to provide alternatives to acute hospital care rather
than saving it to pay any fines it may incur. Bed-blocking
is when vulnerable elderly people are kept in hospital because of a
shortage of beds available in care homes. The
council is thought to be one of the first in the country to make a deal
with the NHS before the government's initiative comes into force in
January under the Community Care (delayed discharges) Bill. The
alternative was for social services to pay £100 each day to the local
hospitals trust for each patient who was fit to be discharged but remained
in an acute bed. Oliver
Mills, director of operations for social services, said it had not been
easy reaching agreement between all parties but it had been worth it to
avoid a "bureaucratic nightmare". 'Taking
a risk' Mr
Mills said: "We decided it made much more sense for us to spend the
money we would have spent on fines on developing a range of services to
help people not to have to go into hospital. "We
are taking a risk essentially. "We
are expecting that by investing in advance it won't be more than the
amount of fines we would have to pay, therefore no money would actually
have to be spent. "What
we are trying to do is prevent the need for people to go into hospital if
they don't need to in an emergency. 'Step-down
beds' "Often
that means the need also to provide extra services to help people come out
of hospital." The
council plans to create a number of "step-down beds" in
residential care homes where people can convalesce for two or three weeks
before deciding whether to return home or enter a care home. Mr
Mills said the council was also working with voluntary organisations to
extend schemes giving elderly people extra support when they first went
back to their own homes from hospital. He
denied the problem had been exacerbated by closures of council-run care
homes. The authority will receive
a further £2.4m from the government next year to continue the schemes.
Copyright
© 2002 Global Action on Aging |
