Skip to content

Click here to read our Christmas update

National Association of Women's Clubs logo
  • Home
  • About
    • What We Do
    • History
    • Meet The Team
  • Campaigns
  • Clubs
  • Join Us
  • Shop
  • Events
  • News
  • Contact
National Association of Women's Clubs logo
  • Home
  • About
    • What We Do
    • History
    • Meet The Team
  • Campaigns
  • Clubs
  • Join Us
  • Shop
  • Events
  • News
  • Contact
  • Back to Campaigns

Sufficient funding for a comprehensive provision of Bed-based Intermediary Care Units throughout the UK

“This Association in Conference Assembled Urges Her Majesty’s Government to Ensure There Is Sufficient Funding for a Comprehensive Provision of Bed Based Intermediary Care Units Throughout the UK That Will Meet the Present and Expected Future Increase in the Population Aged Over 65.”

Bocking Belles Club (Herts Lea Valley Sas),

2019

Sent to Secretary of State for Health

Bed blocking is a very familiar phrase. It seems to have been a problem within hospitals for years, Indeed we understand that measures have been in place since 2003 to try and reduce it, but without success, and according to our research it has increased by nearly half in the last five years alone equating to around 5000 beds blocked every day.

Bed blocking by patients with ongoing needs has two significant effects. One is general with the lack of beds leading to increased pressures in A&E departments, more trolley waits, cancelled operations and so on. The other effect is on the patients themselves, particularly in older people. Ironically longer stays in hospital can lead to worse health outcomes and increase long-term care needs.   Older people can quickly lose mobility and the ability to do everyday tasks such as bathing and dressing. Even short stays in hospital can add to significant muscle wastage. 

The NHS and Local Authorities providing social care are both, we understand, responsible for these delays leading to bed blocking. Yet despite legislation imposing detailed monitoring, statutory duties and financial penalties on the both the NHS and Local Authorities, bed blocking continues at an unacceptably high rate.   

The problem as we see it is caused by a mixture of chronic underfunding and a significant increase in numbers of older people. It is no surprise that 85% of all bed blocking concerns people aged 65 or older, costing a reported £820 million a year, which is the equivalent of 2.7 million days of bed blocking in a year. Local Authorities in charge of social care are partly to blame but they have suffered huge cuts to their budgets with social care spending in England shrinking by £7bn.  This coupled with an increasing numbers of older people and rising care costs mean adult social care services already have a £1.5bn funding gap for this year, and that will only rise in the future if steps are not taken.

The solution to bed blocking known as Intermediate Care is not a new idea, having been around for over 30 years, and indeed it has been championed by NICE in the last decade as best practice. 

Intermediate care services are provided to all patients, but more usually older people aged over 80, after leaving hospital or if they are at risk of being sent to hospital. The services offer a link between hospitals and where people normally live and between different areas of the health and social care systems.

There are three main aims 1) to help people avoid going into hospital unnecessarily; 2) to help people to be as independent as possible after a stay in hospital; and 3) to prevent people from moving into a residential home until they really need it. The care can be provided in different places for example, a community hospital, a residential home or in a person’s own home. Care is given by a variety of different professionals from nurses to therapists to social workers and is tailored to the individual’s care plan. 

It’s a very flexible system and care lasts no longer than six weeks. People can be sent to a bed-based unit straight from home without needing to go into hospital at all. It is clear that intermediate care is crucial for ensuring that older people with complex needs are seen by the right service at the right time, so ending this bed-blocking gridlock and ensuring that life-changing decisions aren’t made prematurely about long-term care needs. It is a sad fact that a person going into a care home straight from hospital, even on a temporary basis, is far less likely toreturn to live at home ever again. 

National audits of intermediate care nearly every year since 2012 all show that it is very, very effective with the vast majority of patients maintaining or improving their levels of independent living.  However to ensure these services are available to all who need it, and to reduce the amount of bed blocking occurring in hospitals, much more investment is needed.  Over the last 10 years we understand that beds have been closed in nearly a third of England’s 340 community hospitals, so there are now fewer beds available than ever for this intermediate care at a time of greater demand.

What we desperately need is more funding for bed-based intermediate care units, and also for the Local Authorities to allow them to fulfill their equally vital role in social care working with the NHS to provide a fully integrated intermediate care system. 

The reported evidence for the benefit of bed-based care units is overwhelming.  Patients have much better outcomes, acute hospital beds are freed up, and in the long run it makes considerable savings for both the NHS and Social Care providers. However provision at present is nowhere near adequate, many areas do not have these units in place, and it is a postcode lottery whether older patients have access to such rehabilitative care or not. 

Therefore we urge the Government as matter of greatest priority, to provide sufficient funding to the NHS and Local Authorities to provide a uniform and comprehensive bed based intermediate care service for all throughout the country.

National Association of Women's Clubs logo white

Quick Links

  • Home
  • History
  • Shop
  • Join Us
  • News

INFORMATION

  • What We Do
  • Clubs
  • Events
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy

get In Touch

  • The Army Reserve Centre, 312 London Road, Romford, Essex RM7 9NH
  • 01708 730805
  • nawc@btconnect.com
  • Follow Us

© 2020 NAWC. All Rights Reserved | Charity No. 273397 | Website by Space Five

This website uses cookies to improve your experience and provide statistics on site use. Find out moreACCEPT
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview


This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled

Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.

Non-necessary

Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.

December Update

2020 is a year none of us will forget in a hurry but as it draws to a close we would like to update you with the current situation as far as Head Office is concerned. The office is now closed until after Christmas but Claire, our secretary, is working from home.

It has been a very strange year with no events, no clubs, no getting together. All our events had to be cancelled, and though we are no different to any other organisation it has been such a pity because this is what we are about friendship, education and fun. On the positive side we have worked hard getting out letters to as many members as we could with the help of club officials. They have been brilliant keeping in touch with their members through emails, ‘WhatsApp’ and phone calls they all deserve a star!

With the moving into different tiers it sometimes gets very confusing and loneliness has been talked about a lot on the television and the media but we hope through the clubs this has not affected our members too much. With the hope of a vaccine it might not be too long before we are back and enjoying our club life again and remember after December 21st the days start to get longer and Spring will be around the corner.

Here at Head Office Eleanor retired at the end of September, Eleanor had told us of her plans at the beginning of the year so we had plenty of notice but of course we could not have the retirement party she was entitled to. However, we are hoping she will come to conference next year and we can say farewell properly. We did send flowers on the day and Mary, our treasurer made her a collage of all our good wishes, and it was beautiful.

If you are looking at our website for the first time look at the list of clubs and see if we have one near you, they are friendly places to go to. Most meet once a week with speakers, demonstrations and outings. Each club is different and if there isn’t one in your area, why don’t you start one!  We honestly think our sort of club is just what the women of our country needs right now.  We are a non-political, non-religious and non- sectarian group that offers friendship and interest. Take a look at this website and see what we have to offer.

So Christmas is coming and what a difference to the one we probably envisaged, but remember ladies we might not be able to party as we have in the past but if we keep safe we can celebrate next year with family and friends. 

So on behalf of The Committee to all our members and whoever is looking at this website, we wish you all a Merry Christmas, keep well and let’s look forward to a better New Year.