Patients get well soon but stay on - for four years!

Patients get well soon but stay on - for four years!

A patient who had recovered from hospital treatment occupied a hospital bed for over four years due to the absence of alternative care facilities. It is understood the patient, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was finally discharged at the end of last year after 1,533 days in hospital, according to information released under the Freedom of Information Act.

The cost of the patient's care at an unnamed hospital in Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS trust is estimated to have been more than £300,000. Under legislation introduced in 2004, local authorities are liable to pay the NHS a daily fine if a patient remains in hospital because social services cannot provide adequate housing for them.

It is not known whether the trust will bill Kent county council for the estimated £200 a day the delay is thought to have cost. Under legislation implemented in 2004, local authorities are liable to pay the NHS a daily fine if a patient remains in hospital because their social services cannot provide adequate housing.

A survey of NHS trusts was carried out using the Freedom of Information Act which revealed that at least seven others kept patients in hospital for more than 500 days after they should have been discharged - a problem known as bed-blocking. East Cheshire NHS trust admitted holding a healthy patient for 970 days - more than 2½ years.

The total cost to the NHS of caring for the 10 patients who blocked beds for the longest time is estimated to exceed £1.4m.

Bed blocker's 4-year stay cost NHS £300,000 (The Guardian, 2 May 2006)