Council Commitment on Delayed Hospital Discharge

The Highland Council has reaffirmed its commitment to work jointly with the NHS to reduce the number of people whose discharge from hospital is delayed and to reduce the length of delay. It has committed additional funds to meet targets set by the Scottish Government to reduce delayed discharge/ At the same time it is to provide extra home care and support for older people to avoid emergency admissions and allow them to stay in their own homes longer.

Councillor Margaret Davidson, Chairman of the Housing and Social Work Committee, said: “We share the Scottish Government’s commitment to reducing delayed discharge levels because hospitals are not the right place to provide care for people who do not need that level of care
“We are actively working on this with the NHS and have set challenging new targets to eliminate by 10 April of this year delayed discharges in short stay beds and those patients delayed for six weeks or more. Furthermore, we are committed to achieving a delayed discharge level of no more than 10 by this date.”

She said this has involved a joint commitment to provide extra funding to ensure assessments were completely on time and effective planning of discharging patients from hospital.

A pilot project at Nairn, which provided direct access to home care services to doctors over weekends as a means of preventing emergency admissions to hospital, had provided very useful.

Councillor Davidson added: “The Council has dedicated significant extra funds to help enhance home care and reduce delayed discharge and working with our NHS partners we are committed to delivering the Scottish Government’s targets and providing our older people with appropriate care packages.”