The Joke That Is "Social Services": Birmingham hospital claims council owes £500,000 in bed blocking row

Birmingham Social Services

Fact File
Birmingham has 2,142 children in care, one of the highest proportions in England.
Some 40,000 live in households where violence is commonplace.
Absenteeism among children’s social care staff is out of control at an average 25 days a year per person.
Tony Howell, Strategic Director for Children Young People and Families, is at the helm of the shamed child protection service and earns an estimated £155,000 a year.
Budgets are continually overspent with the council paying up to £6,000 a week to keep children in residential homes.
Social worker job campaigns haven’t cut vacancy rates of almost 20 per cent.
Much money is wasted by placing children not at risk on the child protection register, to bolster or fake numbers of 'success rates'

Thursday 21 January 2010

Birmingham hospital claims council owes £500,000 in bed blocking row

A Birmingham hospital claims council owes £500,000 in bed blocking row

Birmingham’s biggest NHS hospital is taking on the city council in a bitter row over alleged unpaid debts.

University Hospitals Foundation Trust claims it is owed £500,000 to cover patients who are well enough to be sent home but cannot be discharged because the council’s social services and housing departments have failed to provide suitable care packages for the mainly frail elderly patients.

Under the Community Care Delayed Discharges Act, councils must pay hospitals £100 a day for every patient occupying a bed unnecessarily.

It seems that Birmingham’s other NHS Trusts are also talking to the council about alleged unpaid debts.

In a statement, University Hospitals said: “If the council, as per its contractual arrangements, cannot provide appropriate facilities into which the patients can be discharged, the patient will not be transferred and will remain in hospital.

“In such cases of delayed transfer, the council has an agreement with UHB to fund continuing hospital care.

‘‘As a result of this agreement, the council owes UHB approximately £500,000 for the care of such patients.”

The dispute highlights a growing row over bed blocking, which is rapidly leaping up the political agenda.

Audit Commission inspectors recently awarded Birmingham a ‘red flag’ for failing to address an unacceptably high number of delayed hospital discharges.

The Comprehensive Area Assessment (CAA) found that 150 patients were blocking beds in city hospitals.

The red flag, denoting poor performance, seemed to suggest that Birmingham might be slipping back eight years when more than 300 mainly elderly patients were marooned for weeks on end in city hospitals.

The then Labour-run city council was severely criticised by the Government and ordered to take action.