Over 500 patients who were fit to go home were left stuck in hospital beds across Northern Ireland despite being medically fit for discharge on a single day.
The latest data from the Department of Health shows that a total of 529 people were stuck in hospital beds in Northern Ireland on a single day in October this year.
According to the figures, the Royal Victoria Hospital had the highest number with 112 patients delayed.
Antrim Area Hospital had 98 patients delayed, the Ulster Hospital recorded 74 delayed patients.
Meanwhile, Derry’s Altnagelvin Hospital had 59 patients delayed and South West Acute Hospital had 44 delayed patients.
The Mater had 39 patients delayed followed by Craigavon where 35 patients were in hospital beds despite being medically fit for release.
Causeway Hospital (31) and Daisy Hill Hospital (21) followed close behind.
The facilities with the fewest number of delayed patients were Lagan Valley (7), Belfast City (5), and Downe (4).
The data reveals that a lack of care home placements was the single biggest reason for delayed discharges, accounting for 203 patients – more than a third of all those stuck in hospital beds.
A further 132 patients were delayed due to internal hospital assessment processes, while 94 were waiting for home-based rehabilitation and domiciliary care packages to be put in place.
A further 65 patients required intermediate care beds but could not be moved on, while 33 were delayed for other reasons including two patients waiting for existing care packages to be restarted.
SDLP Opposition Health Spokesperson Colin McGrath MLA said: “It is shocking that nearly 500 hospital beds are being used by people who are medically fit to go home but can’t leave because the system has failed to provide the care packages or placements they need.
“These beds are desperately required to keep patients flowing through our hospitals and to ease the enormous pressure in our emergency departments. This exposes deep, systemic failures in our health service. The Minister talks about Reset, Hospital at Home and winter pressures, yet the Department still cannot get the basic principle of patient flow right. This must be fixed urgently before the situation worsens and patients who need these beds are left waiting longer.”
The Department of Health has been contacted.
