West Midlands has worst rate for discharging elderly patients – study
Elderly hospital patients in the West Midlands are waiting longer to be discharged than anywhere else in the country due to delays arranging social care.
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Patients in the West Midlands are more than twice as likely as the national average to spend three weeks waiting in hospital while a care package is arranged.
A national survey of more then 500 care organisations by care directory Autumna found 15.2 per cent of social care providers in the region said it took more than three weeks to get a patient admitted into their care. This is more than double the national average of 7.3 per cent.
The survey also found widespread dissatisfaction about care organisation's relationships with hospital discharge teams, with the West Midlands again being one of the worst-performing regions.
More than half the providers in the region – 54.5 per cent – said they did not have a positive relationship with discharge teams, compared to a national average of 34 per cent.
This made it one of the worst regions in the UK for collaboration between hospitals and care providers, indicating a severe breakdown in relationships and trust.
