NHS bed blocking ‘causing 8,000 deaths every year’

A study has claimed that up to 8,000 patients are dying every year because of bed-blocking on NHS wards.

The research was based on delayed discharges – patients who are deemed medically fit to be discharged but cannot leave hospital. This results in there being not enough beds for those who need surgery, leading to operations being cancelled and rescheduled, sometimes for weeks later.

Using NHS figures from August 2010 to March 2016, the researchers found that between 2014 and 2015, when discharge delays rose sharply, death numbers in the population as a whole also soared.

The scale of bed blocking has doubled in the last seven years, with experts claiming that the crisis has come about due to a lack of community nursing and social care, leaving patients stuck in hospital.

Oxford University’s Professor Danny Dorling, said the study had shown that the delays in discharging patients had an impact on the wider population, adding “The point of this paper is that something has gone wrong.  The fact is that when you block beds, you see overall mortality of the population go up.

“It is not good for the population and it is not good for the Health Service. This is evidence that says when you push the system too far, it does have an effect.”

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

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