Nuffield Trust response to NHS's October performance figures

Adding to our findings from last year's A&E winter crises, Nigel Edwards responds to the October performance figures, noting special concern that delayed transfers of care have gone up by over 12,000 in a single month.

Press release

Published: 10/12/2015

Commenting on the latest monthly performance statistics published this morning by NHS England, covering October, Nuffield Trust Chief Executive Nigel Edwards said:

“In addition to the human cost, these delayed transfers are fast becoming a big financial problem for the NHS – Monitor announced last month that they were a significant contributor to the £1.6 billion deficits Trusts in England have now accrued”.Nigel Edwards, Nuffield Trust Chief Executive

“It’s extremely worrying, but not surprising, that delayed transfers of care days have gone up by over 12,000 in just a single month, and are at their highest since the figures started being recorded five years ago. These bald statistics represent many thousands of patients, often frail and elderly, who have finished their medical treatment but can’t leave hospital because there isn’t enough support for them to go back to their own homes, or even to care homes. That’s not surprising when £1.7 billion has been cut from local councils’ social care budgets since 2010, meaning that Social Services departments are able to offer this kind of vital help to fewer and fewer people leaving hospital.

“Our research this morning shows that just 3.6% of patients took up 37% of total bed capacity in hospitals in England last year. Many in this group would have been far better cared for away from the hospital once their treatment was finished.

“In addition to the human cost, these delayed transfers are fast becoming a big financial problem for the NHS – Monitor announced last month that they were a significant contributor to the £1.6 billion deficits Trusts in England have now accrued”.

Notes to editors

  • For further information, please contact Katherine Jarman or Mark Dayan in the press office on 020 7462 0555, or mobile 07920 043709.
  • The Nuffield Trust is an independent health charity. We aim to improve the quality of health care in the UK by providing evidence-based research and policy analysis and informing and generating debate.

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