Health chiefs want to cut hospital stay lengths (From South Wales Argus)

Health chiefs want to cut hospital stay lengths

8:20pm Monday 8th February 2010

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By Andy Rutherford - Health correspondent »

HEALTH bosses are looking at ways of reducing patients' length of stay in Gwent hospitals, to ease pressure on bed availability and meet NHS Wales targets.

If targets for average length of stay for emergency cases were met for patients in eight specialties, Aneurin Bevan Health Board estimates that more than 33,000 'bed days' a year could be saved.

Potentially, this could free up hundreds of beds to meet rising demand, with the benefits also being felt across the community hospital sector, where elderly patients and those undergoing rehabilitation programmes tend to stay for longer periods.

Of the 33,000 potential bed days that could be saved in Gwent by meeting NHS Wales targets, more than 80 per cent (27,500) involve patients admitted as emergencies with a range of medical conditions, rather than with problems that require surgery.

Gwent hospitals have a lower average length of stay for these patients, at 10.3 days, than the Welsh average of 10.6 days. But it remains one day more than the target of 9.3 days.

Also, emergency trauma and orthopaedic patients tend to stay two days longer (11.6 days) in hospital in Gwent, than the target (9.4 days).

Average lengths of stay in medicine and trauma and orthopaedics have fallen in Gwent during the past two years, but health chiefs are focusing on improving patient flows through the hospital system as a means of achieving further reductions.

Sharpening up discharge procedures will play a big role in this work.

A major contributing factor to average lengths of stay involves patients admitted as emergencies, who subsequently stay for more than 60 days, in acute and/or community hospitals.

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