Hospital waiting list targets being hit by bed blockers
Thursday, 27th September 2001.
HEALTH services in West Suffolk face a £2 million deficit and failure to meeting waiting list targets because of a bed blocking crisis.
Members of the West Suffolk Borders Primary Care Group board, meeting in Haverhill, were told that there were currently 62 cases in the district of delayed discharges.
This meant the equivalent of two wards full of patients who no longer needed to be in hospital, but there was no nursing home or residential care place for them.
Ana Selby, chief executive of West Suffolk Borders, said the government wanted appointment delays and cancellations to operations and delayed transfer of care to be the main priorities for the New Health Authority for Suffolk, Norfolk and Cambridgeshire to be created next April.
“We would still have to maintain a break-even position and it is going to be extremely difficult. There is a lot of questioning about whether it is possible with the underlying deficit in our system,” Ms Selby said.
Board member Colin Mudge said he felt under-funding in the system was the main cause of the problems and now was the time for them to make a fuss about it, to try to influence the level of government grants received.
Monitoring figures showed in July 1,059 Suffolk patients were waiting for treatment at Addenbrooke’s hospital, 12 per cent over target, with 4,074 at West Suffolk, 4.8 per cent over target.
Members of the West Suffolk Borders Primary Care Group board, meeting in Haverhill, were told that there were currently 62 cases in the district of delayed discharges.
This meant the equivalent of two wards full of patients who no longer needed to be in hospital, but there was no nursing home or residential care place for them.
Ana Selby, chief executive of West Suffolk Borders, said the government wanted appointment delays and cancellations to operations and delayed transfer of care to be the main priorities for the New Health Authority for Suffolk, Norfolk and Cambridgeshire to be created next April.
“We would still have to maintain a break-even position and it is going to be extremely difficult. There is a lot of questioning about whether it is possible with the underlying deficit in our system,” Ms Selby said.
Board member Colin Mudge said he felt under-funding in the system was the main cause of the problems and now was the time for them to make a fuss about it, to try to influence the level of government grants received.
Monitoring figures showed in July 1,059 Suffolk patients were waiting for treatment at Addenbrooke’s hospital, 12 per cent over target, with 4,074 at West Suffolk, 4.8 per cent over target.
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