Number of hospital bed blockers drops to its lowest level

Aug 27 2008 by Gregory Tindle, South Wales Echo

THE number of hospital beds taken up by patients waiting to be discharged after finishing their treatment has dropped to the lowest level over the past year.

A total of 552 patients are now occupying beds while they wait to be transferred usually into residential care home or with a social service care package to return home.

The latest NHS figures released today show a consistent drop in bed blockers – officially known as delayed transfers of care – over the last 12 months falling from a high of 669 beds in July 2007.

But despite the overall fall, the level of bed-blocking at Wales’ biggest hospital – Cardiff’s University Hospital of Wales – has remained almost static at around 120.

A shortage of care home places in the city has been highlighted as a major cause of a failure to bring down the numbers.