Delayed discharges prompt worries over community nurse staffing
Posted 11 January 2024 - 08:00
Action on staffing shortage needed urgently as cost of delays tops £1.2 billion and also raises concerns about patient safety, says RCN Scotland
The cost of delayed discharge bed days in Scotland has topped more than £1.2 billion over the past decade, prompting concern about staffing and patient safety among nursing leaders.
Figures obtain by Scottish Labour show more than 4.6 million bed days have been lost to delayed discharge since 2015.
RCN Scotland said the figures showed an urgent need for action to address the staffing shortage. Associate director Eileen McKenna said: ‘These figures highlight the crisis in Scotland’s social care and community health sectors and the need for urgent action now.
‘The latest workforce statistics show just how much pressure our community nursing teams are under, with 10.5% of posts vacant. Meanwhile 61% of care services that employ nurses report vacancies and the vacancy rate for these services is 17%.
Workforce shortages, access to services and patient safety need to be addressed, says RCN
‘Individuals who require social care and community health services, and those who work in these sectors, cannot afford to wait until the creation of a National Care Service for the serious challenges around workforce shortages, access to services and patient safety to be addressed in a sustainable way.’
Scottish Labour health spokesperson Jackie Baillie highlighted a pledge in 2015 from then-health secretary Shona Robinson to eradicate delayed discharge.
Ms Baillie said: ‘Medical professionals are clear that the failure to tackle delayed discharge is crippling our NHS and putting lives at risk. We cannot have patients left in hospital unnecessarily and the public purse drained due to poor provision of care for those leaving hospital.’
The total cost of delayed discharge bed days were calculated using Public Health Scotland data.
Significant additional funding allocated to support social care, says Scottish Government
A Scottish Government spokesperson said £3.6 million had been allocated this year to support hospital at home services for older people, alongside an additional £12 million as part of the government’s winter plan to increase capacity in the health service.
‘Significant additional funding has also been allocated to support social care. From April 2024 adult social care workers delivering direct care in commissioned services will see their pay increase to a minimum of £12 per hour,’ they said.
‘We continue to work closely with health and social care partnerships to address delays and support people out of acute settings and back into the community or home as quickly as possible.’
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