Hospitals ‘are being paid to hold elderly patients as prisoners’
Author: Laura Holland, Daily Express |
A scathing report says a “payment by results” system offers financial incentives for hospital trusts to keep patients in beds.
It means pensioners are receiving unnecessary hospital care, as the health service battles record admission numbers and a beds shortage.
The system is leading to elderly patients being put at risk, the report by older people’s campaigning charity Anchor and independent think-tank Localis found.
The problem stems from cuts to the social care budget, leading to a reduction in the support available for older people once they are out of hospital.
This means that they are kept on wards instead when they no longer need medical care, while hospital trusts take money for them from the local authority.
Anchor chief executive Jane Ashcroft said: “It is a disgrace that older people are effectively being held prisoner, trapped in hospital beds when they could be receiving more appropriate care elsewhere.
“It is older people who are suffering most from a lack of health and social care integration facing unnecessary admissions to hospital, experiencing lengthy discharge delays and poor standards of care.
“No matter how dedicated NHS staff are, they are constantly battling a system that is working against them.”