Workforce capacity issues in health and social care organisations are making it difficult to discharge older patients from hospital effectively, a report has warned.
Across the health and social care system, providers and commissioners said that staff recruitment and retention were a significant cause of delays, according to the National Audit Office report.
It warned that vacancy rates for nursing and home care staff were up to 14-15% in some regions, and fewer than half of hospitals felt they had sufficient staff trained in the care of older patients.
Efforts to speed up discharge was also being inhibited by health and social care organisations not sharing patient information effectively, despite a statutory duty to do so.
While hospitals were financially incentivised to reduce discharge delays, there was nothing similar to encourage community providers and councils to speed up receipt of patients, added the report titled Discharging older patients from hospital.
Full story in The Nursing Times 26 May 2016