Fife hospital bed blocking figures show decrease

Among the most dramatic figures presented to NHS Fife's board meeting on Wednesday was an average of 15 bed days being lost each week at Kirkcaldy's Victoria Hospital in November - down from an average of 70 last year.

Community hospitals reported 286 lost bed days in the same month, down a quarter from 379.

The improvement in delayed discharge reduction - which aims to get people out of hospital and into long-term care with as few delays as possible - has been attributed to the NHS 'Home First' model.

This sees patients returned home as soon as possible before further care arrangements are made, freeing up beds.

Helen Buchanan, nursing director, said an emphasis on non-hospital means of care like Home First and the Near Me video calling system for patients had eased the strain on health services squeezed by Covid-19.

25,000 first COVID vaccinations completed in FifeFife plans more COVID test centres in bid to combat spread of virus

Victoria Hospital also introduced 'point of care' Covid-19 testing in children's wards, accident and emergency and its admissions unit to prevent new patients from contributing to any outbreaks of the virus.

The measures were introduced in the board's Winter Plan, which details how doctors are ready to deal with excess injuries and illnesses associated with the colder weather.

"Through this second wave of Covid, there have been a few changes in our normal winter prevention (plan)," Ms Buchanan said.

"The main issues have been capacity and flow due to the pandemic, but delayed discharge has been in a much better position."

Thank you for reading this article on our free-to-read website. We're more reliant on your support than ever as the shift in consumer habits brought about by Coronavirus impacts our advertisers.

Please consider purchasing a subscription to our print newspaper to help fund our trusted, fact-checked journalism.

https://www.localsubsplus.co.uk/nord/dm/FFP/V