Out of hospital care stretches Gwent NHS (From South Wales Argus)

Out of hospital care stretches Gwent NHS

3:10pm Saturday 21st November 2009

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PERSISTENT rising demand for Continuing Healthcare packages to support out-of-hospital care for people with complex needs, is the biggest financial challenge facing a Gwent NHS struggling to balance its books.

By the end of last month, Aneurin Bevan Health Board was £14.5 million overspent against estimates for this time of the financial year.

Continuing Healthcare is responsible for almost £10m of this, and according to a report by board director of finance Alan Brace, is "effectively driving the overall... deficit."

If the care a person requires on leaving hospital is primarily health-based, the NHS has to pick up the bill for all care costs, including nursing home fees.

The patients involved are most often elderly and in need of care home places.

Continuing Healthcare costs have been rising UK-wide for several years, and Gwent is not alone in Wales in having to grapple with the issue, the financial demands of which regularly outstrip the money made available from the Assembly to address it.

Last year, Continuing Healthcare cost £51m across Gwent, but this year it will cost an estimated £68.5m - an increase of one third, and the latter figure is rising by the month.

Seven months ago, at the end of 2008/09, there were 1,068 current cases in Gwent, but by October 31, there were 1,343.

Increased awareness of the availability of Continuing Healthcare is a key reason why case numbers are rising, and more people are challenging decisions that initially ruled them or a relative out of receiving it.

Care arrangements for adult physical disabilities account for almost half of all Continuing Healthcare costs, and in Gwent these are set to rise by a quarter this year.

Mental health costs will go up by more than 45 per cent, to top £19m.

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