The NHS is to send patients to recover in bed and breakfast accommodation in an effort to free up ho...
The NHS is to send patients to recover in bed and breakfast accommodation in an effort to free up hospital beds. The aim of the new scheme, being piloted in Shropshire and Worcestershire, is to fill holiday accommodation in off-peak periods while tackling the problem of bed blocking.
In the last five years, it has been estimated by the health industry that 500,000 people have had operations cancelled due to shortage of NHS beds. This has been compounded by the loss in the same period of 50,000 care beds. The scheme is mainly intended for elderly patients who no longer require hospital and nursing care, but who are too frail to return home.
Details are being worked out with officials from The National Care Standards Commission, the NHS and local government social services, but leaflets have already been sent out to bed and breakfast owners in the pilot region telling them about the scheme.
The Department of Health said: 'Our only concern is that the care provided and supplied for these patients is from professionally trained health and social care professionals.'
The plan would also save the NHS thousands of pounds in patient care costs. The average cost of a hospital bed is reckoned to be £1,000 per week, and a care home bed costs around £400 per week. However, in the pilot area the average cost of a bed and breakfast is between £175 to £200 per week.
Derry Andrews, managing director of private medical insurer Clinicare, said: 'Private medical insurance would not find that acceptable. A member of Clinicare would not expect to be pushed out of hospital into a bed and breakfast because of pressure on beds. If it was medically sound that you needed further care then a home nurse would be employed.'
