The council is appalled about criticisms that it is not doing enough to get older people out of hospital who no longer need to be there. It is calling for an urgent meeting with Health Minister, Rosie Winterton, after recent criticisms in the House of Commons that the county was deliberately stopping elderly people leaving hospital to save the cost of putting them in residential care homes.
The council completely disputes this suggestion. It points out that bed blocking is a national issue and East Sussex has a strong record for its social services, recently praised for its work by the independent Audit Commission and judged most improved authority in the country by the Commission for Social Care Inspection. This would be impossible if it were deliberately bed blocking.
"Caring for older people is a number one priority for the council, "said Council Leader Peter Jones, "I am outraged at any suggestion that we would leave people languishing in hospital unnecessarily. We have poured our scarce resources into this area but everyone agrees that money is only part of the solution.
"The number of older people is growing nationally and East Sussex has higher figures than anywhere else. Unfortunately, we get one of the lowest amounts of funding from central government for elderly people per head. What is desperately needed is a major reform to stop people being admitted to hospital unnecessarily and to create more intermediate care facilities to help them home. The council has done everything it can to kick start this reform but we can’t do this alone and must work together with our health partners to get things moving.”
Reference:
0503137rk
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