THANK goodness we’ve just had a mild winter, because bed blocking in our hospitals is the highest its been since the NHS started recording the figures in 2010.
Imagine how much worse it would have been had temperatures plummeted and caused extra emergency cases to be dealt with.
Bed blocking refers to the number of bed days lost because of delayed transfers of care and is usually a result of social support not being available to allow a fit patient to return home.
And York is one of the worst examples in Britain.
Some blame the problem on austerity cuts.
Dr Paul Edmondson-Jones at City of York Council believes it is down to a shortage of nursing and residential care in the city, because of high property values and a shortage of available care staff.
Whatever the reason, bed blocking has been going on for far too long and there can be no excuse for it.
Local authorities have a legal duty to arrange or provide services to those eligible for care.
It’s high time they got on with it.
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