Delayed hospital discharges cost the NHS £2 billion last year as Liberal Democrats warn of local healthcare crisis

Shocking new figures from healthcare charity ‘The King’s Fund’ have indicated that delayed hospital discharges costed the NHS nearly £2 billion last year.  Liberal Democrat councillors in Oldham have described a “deepening crisis” in local healthcare services controlled by Northern Care Alliance trust (NCA).

Liberal Democrat Opposition Leader councillor Howard Sykes MBE said, “£2 billion is an extraordinary amount of money that is being lost because the NHS can’t free up hospital beds.  It’s more than £5 million per day.

“But the true cost of this deepening crisis in our Health Service is being paid by the thousands of people in our communities who are not receiving the vital care that they need.  People are waiting months for cancer treatment in some cases.  All the while, others are stranded in hospital beds for weeks on end waiting for the right care to be put in place so they can be discharged safely.

“If we were building the NHS from scratch today, it would be obvious to everyone that we need a national health and social care service.  We have an ageing population and we’re living with increasingly complex physical and mental health needs in our old age.  It is clear that our underfunded social care sector cannot cope.

“The government must urgently fund social care, so that people can receive the care and support they need, in the home or in the community, leaving hospitals to deal with the emergencies and serious treatments that they are really meant for.”