Managers rapped for crisis in Wales

One in three delayed discharges in Welsh hospitals is caused by
trouble arranging community care.

A report by the Audit Commission in Wales blames past bad
management and policy-making for the bed-blocking crisis –
particularly the concentration of resources on the acute sector. It
shows that a quarter of all NHS beds in Wales are blocked by
delayed transfers.

Health minister Jane Hutt found that problems in arranging
community care was responsible for more than 30 per cent of delays
in March.

The Audit Commission blamed “a vicious circle in which entry and
discharge points become blocked by ineffective demand management
and operational inefficiencies throughout the system”.