Medically fit elderly patients blocking hospital beds cost the NHS £640k each day

A major study has found that elderly patients being kept in hospital due to the social care crisis have used up 2.5 million NHS bed days since the last election, blocking almost 3,000 beds a day.

The study found that the crisis is costing taxpayers £640,000 every day and has meant that fewer beds are available for sick patients, leading to long waiting times.

Analysis by charity Age UK found that in the time since the last general election in June 2017 and the upcoming election, in excess of 2.5 million bed days have been given over to elderly patients with no clinical need to be in hospital.

Age UK’s Caroline Abrahams, said the results of the study were “appalling” and warned that hospitals were being “jammed up by older people”.

“The waste of money this represents is staggering, coming in at more than half a billion pounds, but the human cost is arguably even greater.

“We are all paying the price for the inability of our politicians to fix social care, whether you are waiting endlessly for a much needed knee operation or facing hours of delay in A&E following an accident at home.

“When hospitals get jammed up because they can’t discharge older people the effects feed right the way through and mean there are no beds for new patients who need them.”

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Posted by Karen Motley, Clinical Negligence Department, Chadwick Lawrence LLP (tonymay@chadlaw.co.uk ), medical negligence lawyers and clinical negligence solicitors in Huddersfield, Leeds, Wakefield and Halifax, West Yorkshire.

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