This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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Delayed discharge targets must be met - Minister
30/09/2003
NHS Boards and Local Authorities inScotlandhave been told that they must do more to ensure that
national targets for delayed discharge are met.
Deputy Health Minister Tom McCabe met today with
selected Partnerships from around Scotland to remind them
that the Executive's £30m annual investment must be used to
find long term solutions to patients waiting too long in
inappropriate hospital settings.
The warning came as figures, released by the
Information and Statistics Division of the Common
Services Agency, show an increase of 174 in the number
of patients waiting too long to be discharged from
hospital, an 8.4 per cent increase from the last
quarter.
However, the figures also show 680 less
patients waiting too long to be discharged compared to
the same point in the previous year (July 2002) which
is a 23 per cent decrease.
In June this year, figures showed that NHS and
Local Authority Partnerships had both met and exceeded
the target to reduce delayed discharge by 1000 by April
2003. Local targets have been set for April 2004 that
offer a further reduction of 278 to 1,788.
Mr McCabe said:
"The figures released today are disappointing,
particularly given the progress made during the last
quarter, when Partnerships both met and exceeded their
targets. We have invested an extra £30m of public money
year on year and we need to see sustained improvement.
I am keen to know why this has not been the case in
this quarter.
"However overall, delayed discharge is still down 23
per cent from July 2002, with 33 per cent fewer patients
waiting more than six weeks to be discharged, and I
am confident that NHS Board and Local Authorities
can meet the targets set for them for April 2004.
"I am also pleased to see that the number of people
waiting for the longest periods continues to fall, down 60
per cent since July 2002. I want to congratulate
those Board and Local Authority partnerships who have
continued to make progress for this quarter.
"But today's figures should be seen as a warning
against complacency. Solutions for reducing delayed
discharge must not be quick fixes, but sustainable,
long term solutions which will mean an end to too many
of our older people waiting too long in inappropriate
hospital settings.
"As I said in June this year, the challenge for
Boards is to sustain the momentum of improvement. I
want to be reassured
that with the combined effort of everyone
involved, coupled with the substantial resources being
invested in this area by the Executive, we will be on track
to both meet and exceed the targets set for April
2004."
ISD collects, collates and maintains a wide range of
statisticalinformation, mainly concerning health and health
services. ISD Scotland is part of the Common
Services Agency for NHSScotland.
For more information see the ISD Scotland
website:
http://www.show.scot.nhs.uk/isd
There is an overall long term increase in activity
relating to olderpeople in the Health Service. Demographic
trends show that the number of older people in
Scotlandwill continue to rise over the next twenty
years.
Comprehensive Spending Review 2002 committed the
Executive to spending£30 million each year from 2003-04 to 2005-06 to
tackle delayed discharge in 2003-04 to 2005-06.