£300 million to free UK hospital beds and increase throughput
This article was originally published in Clinica
Executive Summary
The UK Department of Health has pledged to spend £300 million ($436 million) over the next two years on eliminating unnecessary delays in releasing patients from hospital - so-called "bedblocking" - with the primary aim of reducing admission waits. The "widespread" problem is attributed mainly to shortcomings in the relationship between the hospital sector and the social services, resulting in excessive hospital care costs, longer waits for diagnosis and treatment and unnecessarily long stays after treatment.