THE number of blocked beds in Gwent hospitals in June was the lowest for more than two years.

Sixty-five delayed transfers of care (DToCs) - the official term for patients deemed fit for discharge but who remain in hospital - were recorded last month, the smallest amount since May 2014.

This was also a reduction of more than a third on the amount for May this year (97).

The June figure contributed to the smallest combined amount of delayed transfers of care in Gwent hospitals for any financial year first quarter (April-June) since 2012/13.

It was also the fifth successive month that DToCs in Gwent hospitals were below 100, the longest such run for more than three years.

Health board chiefs will be hoping that the trend continues downward, and that the fall of nine per cent in delayed transfers of care recorded during 2015/16 is maintained.

The biggest factors in the large fall in DToCs in Gwent between May and June are reductions in patients whose discharges have been delayed due to healthcare or community care reasons.

In May there were 24 DToCs due to healthcare reasons, either because a healthcare needs assessment was required or because arrangements based on such an assessment had not been finalised. But in June the figure was down to 16.

Similarly, DToCs for community care reasons, again due to waits for assessments or because arrangements had not been finalised, were down, from 22 in May to 13 last month.

There was also a fall in the number of DToCs due to issues over the selection of a care home for the patient (13, down from 18), while DToCs for legal or financial reasons, and for reasons classed as ‘other’ were down from 12 to just two.

Aneurin Bevan University Health Board has been successful in recent months in minimising the number of patients who are delayed in hospital for more than 12 weeks.

There were just four patients in this category in June, while the numbers waiting 0-3 weeks fell, from 53 in May, to 31 in June.

The number of patients waiting 3-6 weeks also fell, from 22 to 18, as did the number of those waiting 6-12 weeks, down to 12 in June, from 20 in May.