In October 2016 alone nearly 18,000 bed days were lost due to delays after mental health patients had been discharged from hospital. Delayed discharges can be due to a variety of reasons, such as a difficulty in obtaining funding or a lack of social care services in the local area.
These lost days can have a knock on effect for future patients who may urgently need a bed at a specialist unit. A 2015 Royal College of Psychiatrists report stated that these delays can also cause prospective patients to have to travel hundreds of miles in order to find an available bed. The delays don’t just have an effect on the patients themselves, the National Audit Office has estimated that delayed discharges are costing the NHS around £820m a year, money that could be better spent on vital research and treatment.
Norman Lamb, of the Liberal Democrats, describes the current situation for mental health patients - “If patients cannot be discharged it often leaves hospitals full to overflowing. The knock-on effect is that patients needing inpatient care are sent out of their area because there are no beds available - an outrageous practice which is associated with an increased risk of suicide. This is intolerable”.
Paul Farmer, Chief Executive of a mental health charity, Mind, points the blame at mental health services remaining critically
underfunded and not receiving the attention they require. He states that, if discharges were planned more efficiently from the time a patient enters hospital, these problems would be mitigated and patients would not be kept in hospital for longer than required.
It has also been argued, however, that underfunding is not a key factor in the delays. The Commons Public Accounts Committee argue that more efficient discharge planning can be ascertained without the need for more money, and that the NHS can still “step up the pace of change” with their current level of funding.
It is apparent that, whatever the root cause of this issue, the effects are still being felt throughout the country and urgent steps need
to be taken before the issue becomes unmanageable.