Rise in 'preventable' emergency readmissions to hospital

[Northerner]

Increasing numbers of people are being readmitted to hospital in England with preventable conditions such as pneumonia and pressure sores, according to Nuffield Trust research.

Better care in hospital and at home afterwards could have made a difference, it said.

Emergency readmissions, within 30 days of discharge, have risen by a fifth over the past seven years.

The government said no-one should endure unnecessary trips to hospital.

It has committed to a long-term funding plan for the NHS to help it manage growing patient demand.

An analysis by the health think tank, the Nuffield Trust, found that a small and growing proportion of emergency readmissions - around 1% - were preventable, affecting 185,000 people last year.

Between 2010-11 and 2016-17, patients readmitted to hospital in an emergency with pneumonia rose from 41,003 to 70,731.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-44315954

 

[mikeyB]

It’s extremely unlikely that folk are being discharged with pressure sores evident, or pneumonia come to think. This is due to home care, or care in care homes.

Pressure sores can develop in hours - I once saw a 16st rugby player who had been lying on a firm hospital trolley in A&E for around five hours develop a pressure sore.

 

[trophywench]

I only spent 5 days as an inpatient when I broke my knee and the approx. 30 hours I spent virtually immobile where agony on the backs of my heels and both elbows since I kept sliding down the bed so much and although it had 'cot' sides on the bit that lifted up the bed was so wide one could only grab one and impossible to hoik my whole body with an ankle to groin cylindrical plaster cast on, up the bed or down or on and off a bedpan. (those ones they can roll people on and off leave the patient who is drinking litres and litres of water to try and flush the ketones out, with her complete backside in her wee - and far to full for a HCA or nurse to remove without accident and led to several changes of bed during that time. No-one complained they had to do it - but how utterly ridiculous - and how degrading and embarrassing, just horrible. Apart from the ruddy grooves on my arse - and the soreness for quite a while despite the application of great dollops of Nivea (except the 'bad' leg cos I couldn't reach that heel for a good while since I couldn't bend that knee) there were no lasting effects.

(I did learn very quickly however that the HCAs are not trained how to get anyone with a broken knee out of bed though!)

I'm not at all surprised that people get bedsores - I'm 'fit' and mobile generally but if you aren't for whatever reason, yes they very easily can manifest very very rapidly indeed.

 

[Amigo]

It’s extremely unlikely that folk are being discharged with pressure sores evident, or pneumonia come to think. This is due to home care, or care in care homes.

Pressure sores can develop in hours - I once saw a 16st rugby player who had been lying on a firm hospital trolley in A&E for around five hours develop a pressure sore.

My mum was discharged from 27 days in hospital with horrendous sores due to inadequate changing. It took the dedicated efforts of the care Home staff to turn things around and with their dedication, they did!