Hinde, S, Bojke, L, Richardson, G et al. (4 more authors) (2021) Delayed transfers of care for older people: a wider perspective. Age and Ageing. afab035. ISSN 0002-0729
Abstract
Delayed transfers of care (DTOC), often unhelpfully referred to as ‘bed blocking’, has become a byword for waste and inefficiency in healthcare systems throughout the world. An estimated 2.7 million bed days are occupied each year in England by older people no longer in need of acute treatment, estimated to cost £820 million (2014/15) in inpatient care. Policy and media attention have often been drawn to this narrative of financial waste, resulting in policy setting that directly targets the level of DTOC, but has done little to put patient health first.
These figures and policies portray a misleading image of the delays as primarily of concern in terms of their financial burden on acute hospital care, with little consideration given to the quantification on patient health or wider societal impacts. In spite of the multi-factorial decision-making process that occurs for each patient discharge, current evaluation frameworks and national policy setting fail to reflect the complexity of the process.
In this commentary, we interrogate the current approach to the quantification of the DTOC impact and explore how policies and evaluation methods can do more to reflect the true impact of the delays.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © The Author(s) 2021. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the British GeriatricsSociety. This is an author produced version of a commentary published in Age and Ageing. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy. |
Keywords: | delayed transfer, inpatient, older patients, delayed transfer of care, bed blocking, older people |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Medicine and Health (Leeds) > School of Medicine (Leeds) > Leeds Institute of Health Sciences (Leeds) > Academic Unit of Elderly Care and Rehabilitation (Leeds) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 14 Jan 2021 13:25 |
Last Modified: | 26 Feb 2022 01:38 |
Status: | Published online |
Publisher: | Oxford University Press |
Identification Number: | 10.1093/ageing/afab035 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:170027 |