Thursday, January 05, 2023
Welsh Labour Government failing patients
Yesterday brought the bizarre news that senior NHS staff have been advised by the Welsh government to discharge people from hospital who are well enough to leave, even without a package of care being in place.
This drastic advice comes in the light of news that one in nine beds are effectively blocked because patients who are in recovery do not have adequate arrangements in place to look after them if they went home.
According to the BBC, the seven health boards in Wales have nearly 1,800 patients medically well enough to leave hospital, the Welsh government has called the NHS situation "unprecedented", while one health leader said the NHS was on a "knife-edge" in terms of its ability to cope.
This is not something that has developed overnight. The crisis in community and social care has been building up for some time because of the failure of the Welsh Government to address the huge problems with staffing and funding. But effectively throwing patients out on the streets without proper support is not the answer. This is what one GP had to say on the issue:
Dr Sayma Ahmed, a GP at Cloughmore medical centre in Splott, Cardiff, told BBC Radio Wales Breakfast that people usually needed carers to take their medication, feed them, help them go to the toilet, and if a plan was not in place they would eventually deteriorate and end up back in hospital.
"I completely understand the thinking, I've worked in a hospital for many years before becoming a GP, it does make sense, but being on the other side in primary care directly seeing these patients in their homes, we are dealing with them day to day.
"There are lots of patients we have to send in because they have got to a state where they had to go in [to hospital] because they haven't been able to care for themselves, and essentially they've become unsafe, or are already unsafe, so it is terrifying, and I can understand people asking what are we going to do, but this isn't going to fix it."
The letter added that it offered support and understanding, as this necessary adjustment in the clinical risk threshold for hospital care may be concerning for some professionals.
The leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats is absolutely right when she says that many patients could end up being readmitted if adequate care packages are not put in place:
"There has been a systematic failure from successive governments over the last few decades to provide meaningful improvements to the social care system in Wales.
"Reforming social care was a key promise of the Labour and Plaid Cymru Co-operation Agreement, yet things appear to be worse than ever.
"We cannot solve the crisis in our A and E departments until the crisis in social care is solved. The Welsh Government must ensure that patient safety is protected throughout the health care system and that meaningful reforms to the social care syste, are forthcoming."
Welsh Labour Ministers need to rethink this advice and start to get to grips with reforming the social care system.
This drastic advice comes in the light of news that one in nine beds are effectively blocked because patients who are in recovery do not have adequate arrangements in place to look after them if they went home.
According to the BBC, the seven health boards in Wales have nearly 1,800 patients medically well enough to leave hospital, the Welsh government has called the NHS situation "unprecedented", while one health leader said the NHS was on a "knife-edge" in terms of its ability to cope.
This is not something that has developed overnight. The crisis in community and social care has been building up for some time because of the failure of the Welsh Government to address the huge problems with staffing and funding. But effectively throwing patients out on the streets without proper support is not the answer. This is what one GP had to say on the issue:
Dr Sayma Ahmed, a GP at Cloughmore medical centre in Splott, Cardiff, told BBC Radio Wales Breakfast that people usually needed carers to take their medication, feed them, help them go to the toilet, and if a plan was not in place they would eventually deteriorate and end up back in hospital.
"I completely understand the thinking, I've worked in a hospital for many years before becoming a GP, it does make sense, but being on the other side in primary care directly seeing these patients in their homes, we are dealing with them day to day.
"There are lots of patients we have to send in because they have got to a state where they had to go in [to hospital] because they haven't been able to care for themselves, and essentially they've become unsafe, or are already unsafe, so it is terrifying, and I can understand people asking what are we going to do, but this isn't going to fix it."
The letter added that it offered support and understanding, as this necessary adjustment in the clinical risk threshold for hospital care may be concerning for some professionals.
The leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats is absolutely right when she says that many patients could end up being readmitted if adequate care packages are not put in place:
"There has been a systematic failure from successive governments over the last few decades to provide meaningful improvements to the social care system in Wales.
"Reforming social care was a key promise of the Labour and Plaid Cymru Co-operation Agreement, yet things appear to be worse than ever.
"We cannot solve the crisis in our A and E departments until the crisis in social care is solved. The Welsh Government must ensure that patient safety is protected throughout the health care system and that meaningful reforms to the social care syste, are forthcoming."
Welsh Labour Ministers need to rethink this advice and start to get to grips with reforming the social care system.
