Comment on the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee report on unsafe discharge from hospital
In response to the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee (PACAC) report, 'Follow-up to PHSO Report on unsafe discharge from hospital', Janet Morrison, Chief Executive of Independent Age, the older people’s charity, who gave evidence to the Committee, said:
"This report paints a damning picture of the management of hospital discharge across many parts of the NHS. We are consistently seeing record numbers of people being kept in hospital unnecessarily because appropriate care services have not been put in place. Elsewhere, the worrying "revolving door" approach means people are being rushed out of hospital too soon as the race to find beds takes priority over patients’ needs. Sadly, frail patients who weren’t even ready to leave only find they end up back in hospital again. This report lays the blame for that failure on "political maladministration". But behind this phrase lies the devastating impact on older people, left to cope largely on their own while fragmented health and social care systems struggle to put the right care services in place for them.
"Unsafe discharge from hospital doesn’t just lead to short-term costs for the NHS and social care. All too often the highest costs are to the health and wellbeing of older people who in the worst cases can end up alone at home without anyone responsible for their care. We echo the recommendations in the PACAC report in particular the call for a proper route map for sustainable social care funding by March 2017. Without urgent Government action, it will be older people who suffer the most because of a problem that has been allowed to continue for years."
