A preoccupation with discharging patients from hospital in order to
avoid fines could be taking social workers' attention away from
proper assessment and planning, campaigners have warned.
Older people's charity Counsel and Care estimates that nearly two-
thirds of older people are not receiving access to social workers
either in hospital or after discharge.
It follows news that Bournemouth Council is reviewing the deaths of
three older people who were readmitted to hospital soon after being
discharged into the community (news, page 6, 27 May).
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Under the Community Care (Delayed Discharge) Act 2003, social
services departments face fines of up to £120 a day if they
fail to find alternative care for patients within three days of
them being deemed ready for discharge from hospital.
Counsel and Care is urging the government to research the impact on
older people of its delayed discharges policy.
A spokesperson for the charity said: "Research is needed because
the figures imply older people are not receiving the care they
need.
"The delayed discharge statistics appear impressive. In 2001, there
were 7,000 delayed discharges a year and, by 2004, this had been
reduced to just under 3,000.
"But is this just another example of a government obsessed with
process and activity statistics when it is outcomes for people that
really matter?"
The charity wants the government to consult the providers of
domiciliary care, care homes, intermediate care and specialised
housing for older people to find out what incentives they would
need to introduce "a sustainable increase in the number of places
available and thus in the amount of real choice for older people
leaving hospital".
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Their call coincides with a government drive to encourage sheltered
housing providers to make available extra care, including
intermediary and respite care.
The Office of Deputy Prime Minister and the Department of Health
have put forward changes in the law to allow housing associations
to offer short-term care within sheltered housing. Officials said
that, until then, short term care could be provided as "pilot
projects" funded by primary care trusts.
But housing association delegates at a conference last week on
supporting people at home warned that keeping flats free for
short-term placements could upset long-term residents.
