NHS: Bed Capacity

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath Excerpts

Thursday 20th March 2014 Lords Chamber

Asked by

[Lord Hunt of Kings Heath]

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they are taking to prevent hospital patients being moved in the middle of the night to relieve pressure on beds.

[Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Lab)]

My Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question standing in my name on the Order Paper, and refer noble Lords to my health interests.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health (Earl Howe) (Con)]

My Lords, moving patients between wards overnight should happen only for good clinical reasons, because it can be a distressing experience for them and their families. We have asked NHS England’s medical director, Sir Bruce Keogh, to write to all hospital trusts requesting that they minimise transfers that are not aimed at improving patient care. As the Government’s response to the Francis inquiry highlighted, listening to and learning from patients to improve care is a top government priority.

[Lord Hunt of Kings Heath]

My Lords, it is all very well the Minister’s telling the NHS not to do it any more, but does he agree that the real problem here is the pressure on hospital services, particularly on A&E services, which then leads to a desperate search for beds, which then causes patients to be moved in the night time, as this survey has reported? Do Ministers have a response to the more general issue of the acute pressures on our acute hospitals at the moment?

[Earl Howe]

My Lords, many hospitals have been under pressure, particularly during winter, as they always are. It is telling that if one looks at the tell-tale signs of pressure, such as bed occupancy, the rates have remained stable for a number of years. In fact we have more clinical staff on the front line, particularly in A&E, than we had a few years ago. There is no doubt that there are times when hospitals feel acutely under pressure. However, despite rising demand, average waits for assessment in A&E are around 30 minutes at the moment, compared with over 70 minutes in 2009-10.

--- Later in debate ---

[Earl Howe]

I am not aware that it is mandatory. It is certainly good practice for hospitals to inform families, just as they should inform patients. Every decision taken about the patient should be explained to that person.

[Lord Hunt of Kings Heath]

My Lords, can I come back to the point raised by my noble friend? The noble Earl will know that Monitor is requiring foundation trusts to make five-year plans ahead. My understanding is that almost all such plans made by acute trusts are predicated on reducing bed capacity in order to keep within the budgets that they are likely to have over that period. Can he assure me that as those bed numbers are reduced, community care and social care provision will increase in order to enable patients to be discharged appropriately?

[Earl Howe]

It is for that very reason that we are setting up the Better Care Fund as from April 2015, so that health and social care are more joined up, people are kept out of hospital and we can therefore safely reduce the number of beds. We have to take an all-systems approach to this; it is no good looking at one part of the system—health and social care have to be looked at together.