Hospital admissions cut plan 'risky'

[Northerner]

A £3.8bn scheme to cut hospital admissions in England and treat more people at home is risky, and "overly optimistic", health researchers warn.

Writing for the BBC News website's Scrubbing Up column, Nigel Edwards from the Nuffield Trust says the Better Care Fund, due to start in 2015, could even lead to more hospital admissions.

He says cutting the length of hospital stays would be more effective.

The government says pilots in 14 areas are already working well.

Mr Edwards says there is a proportion - perhaps around 15% of hospital admissions - who could be cared for in the community if GP and nursing services were improved.

Then, he says, there are a number of patients who may be admitted to hospital for a day or two and, while they could be cared for at home, the diagnostic and expert resources needed may well be the same.

He says the real issue is about those patients who remain in hospital for longer.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-27518382

 

[AlisonM]

With proper care people do recover better in familiar surroundings, but the real issue is ensuring they actually have the correct care once they get home. My Community nurse reckons I should have had at least another week of help before being cast out into the cold cruel world, but they're so short of resources that just wasn't possible. I can at least use my injured wrist a bit now and have plenty of pull on clothes so I don't have to fight too much with fastening stuff as that 'fine control' is still a struggle for me.

My concern here is that other areas are even shorter on home support than we are up here and people are just going to be left to get on with it who really can't cope.