Hospital boss says 300 patients have nowhere to go because of 'crisis in home care'

Northamptonshire Hospitals' chief executive Simon Weldon has revealed the county’s hospitals have 300 patients who could be discharged but have nowhere to go because of staff shortages in the care sector.

The pressure of Covid-19 on hospitals and staff absences was revealed by Mr Weldon at an update of the Local Resilience Forum on 18 January, which is made up of councils, the NHS and emergency services.

Simon Weldon said: "This pandemic has revealed something that was there before it and we pretty much have a crisis in home care in terms of how we attract people.

"We are working to get patients home as soon as possible but our staff absences are being echoed across our partners.

"We currently have 300 patients in our hospitals who could be cared for in other settings. That challenge will occupy us for coming days.”

In response to rising Covid cases, LRF declared a major incident in the county on 7 January. Up to 98 per cent of 1,100 beds at Northampton General and Kettering General hospitals are occupied and more than 150 patients are being treated for Covid.

During the LRF briefing, West Northamptonshire Council chief executive Anna Earnshaw said the council was expecting a further six months of pressures on social care because of Covid. She said the county had lost eight per cent of its care staff last November when the government required them to be fully vaccinated.

Mr Weldon said: "We've got more than 10 per cent of our beds occupied by patients with Covid. That is no healthy place for a system to be. "We are struggling to continue to provide lower-priority elective care because our beds are fully occupied”.

This picture is similar to other areas of the country, with Cornwall council stating 180 hospital patients need a care package before they can leave hospital. Some 500 people living in their own homes in Cornwall are awaiting social care support.

Homecare Association's chief executive Jane Townson said recently, “Some care providers are being placed under almost intolerable pressure to accept hospital discharges, despite repeatedly making clear they do not have enough care workers to do so."