A SHORTAGE of carers in the community is continuing to cause bed-blocking issues within the General Hospital – with some patients waiting weeks to go home despite being medically cleared to do so.
On Monday there were 35 patients awaiting discharge after being assessed as fit enough to leave – 22 in the General Hospital and 13 within the Island’s mental-health facilities.
The government has said the ‘majority’ of these patients require domiciliary, nursing or residential care, but a lack of available care packages meant they were having to stay on wards ‘for a longer time than is medically required’.
One Islander, who did not wish to be named, said their mother was receiving care at the Hospital after an accident at home.
They explained that, despite being described as medically-fit for discharge, she had been unable to leave for ‘at least a month’ due to the lack of available care provision.
‘They need another care home in the Island. The issue is that we [the population] are living longer and when you get into your 80s you are just going to need more care – but I don’t think they will ever fill the recruitment gap for carers.
‘For her [my mother], it’s not an ideal situation because it is not a nice environment to be in. It should be a place where you receive short-term care for an accident or illness, but some of the wards have turned into care wards while people wait to go home,’ they added.
Claire Thompson, the director of clinical services, said: ‘We understand the importance for patients to recuperate at home or in the community when it is medically appropriate for them to be discharged from hospital.
‘We hear from our partners in the care sector that Jersey, like other jurisdictions, is finding it challenging to recruit carers. This is resulting in less capacity either in terms of nursing beds or staff to provide domiciliary care, which can result in some patients having to stay in hospital for a longer time than is medically required.’
She added: ‘To try to ease the issue, we have implemented a pilot scheme with Family Nursing and Home Care to help to discharge patients – when it is medically appropriate to do so – into an environment that is best suited to their needs. The discharge service pilot provides a package of home care for up to six weeks, which allows patients to return home while they wait for a care provider best suited to their needs.’
She acknowledged that patients staying in hospital beds for longer than necessary could have a ‘knock-on effect’ on elective operations.
‘To counter this we have ring-fenced a ward for elective operations. Since this ward came into operation on 23 September, there have been no public cancellations due to a lack of beds,’ she added.
She also reminded eligible Islanders to get their flu and Covid vaccinations to reduce their chances of becoming seriously ill and requiring hospital services.
‘We know that the winter is a very busy period for the Hospital with respiratory and winter viruses leading to an increase in demand for emergency beds. We monitor our beds regularly throughout the day and have the option to implement “surge beds”, which can allow us to increase our capacity if there is a rise in demand.’
