A major study into delays in discharging mainly elderly patients from hospital has been completed by the new Essex Partnership Panel.

The study was carried out over 15 months by the Essex overview and scrutiny partnership panel which has been given statutory powers to look at health services and make recommendations for improvements.

Similar panels have been set up nationally and the Essex panel, made of up of councillors from across the county, is the first in the country to publish its report.

The study concentrated on the reasons for delayed discharges in the five acute hospitals in the county, with a particular focus on older people.

Cllr Roger Dyson, who chairs the panel said, "At any one time there are about 60 older people in Essex who are being delayed in hospital and this problem is more serious in the south of the county.

"We have already received views about why this might be the case but wanted to test out these views and compare procedures and methods in the south and north of the county to determine how improvements could be made."

The panel came up with a range of recommendations to help ensure that the health and social care systems in Essex work together more effectively to ensure that older people are not delayed in hospital.

The recommendations include using interim facilities including residential homes so that patients can be discharged, the introduction of a single assessment process across Essex to gauge the social care needs of patients being discharged and more provision of care in people's own homes, with better pay to attract more people to provide the service.

Published Wednesday, January 15, 2003

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