Hospital beds freed up as Rochdale bucks the trend

Joanne Ogden, Rochdale Social Services; Nicola Ellis-Roberts, HMR Community Services; Patricia West; Shabana Younis, HMR Community Services; Rob Lord, Rochdale Social Services

Rochdale is bucking the national trend in ensuring hundreds of patients are discharged from hospital on time.

NHS figures show the number of delayed transfers of care have halved. Delayed transfers of care occur when an adult inpatient in hospital is ready to go home or move to a less acute stage of care but is prevented from doing so.

The improvement is a result of the health and social care pioneering ‘discharge to assess’ scheme which gives patients the option of receiving any required assessment in their own home or preferred environment.

A recent survey found that many patients prefer to transfer from hospital to their home or residential care as soon as it safe to do so.

In October there were 161 days where beds were occupied due to delayed transfers of care in Rochdale compared to 361 in April.

Rob Lord, team manager for adult care and support, said: “We are delighted with our achievements. To halve the number of delayed transfers of care in just six months is a fantastic team effort by dedicated, committed and hard-working staff. It’s a Rochdale success story to be proud of.”