Older Residents Well Served by Bedford Borough Council On Hospital-to-Home Transfers but Deserve Better from ‘Cowardly’ Government

Older residents are less likely to be forced to stay in hospital longer than necessary due to a lack of social care services in Bedford Borough than anywhere else in the country, councillors heard this week.

Last year Bedford Borough had just 73 delayed discharges from hospital due to social care - the lowest in the country. In Norfolk by comparison there were 13,828 delayed transfers, significantly worse even given the greater population in Norfolk.

In addition, instead of older residents being discharged and then shortly after being back in hospital, in Bedford Borough the number of older people (65+) still at home 3 months being discharged from hospital into reablement/rehabilitation services is now at 96.3%. This is an all-time high.

Commenting after a meeting of the Council's Adult Services Overview and Scrutiny Committee earlier this week, Liberal Democrat Cllr Tim Caswell said: 'We want to congratulate the Council's social care teams for their performance delivering a high standard of care for elderly and vulnerable people locally.'

"While Bedford Borough's social care teams are achieving excellent results, supported by additional local investment under Mayor Dave Hodgson's leadership, this is all despite the ongoing failure from Conservative Government to address the national care crisis.'

"Our teams and the residents they care for deserve action to tackle the national funding crisis so that the national system can finally work with them, not against them. As well as the severe underfunding there are no answers to the challenges presented by an ageing population and rising demand for care. Yet the government has its head in the sand. We are over two years on from the last general election yet this cowardly government has run scared from producing plans for the sustainable social care system we so sorely need."

You can read the report on the Better Care Fund considered the Adult Services OSC last night, including highlights of current progress in joint working between Bedford Borough Council and the Bedfordshire Clinical Commissioning Group, in full at: http://www.councillorsupport.bedford.gov.uk/documents/s47218/Item%2005%20Better%20Care%20Fund%20-%20Overview.pdf