Norwich care hotel criticised as "wholly unacceptable" use of public money
The pilot scheme cost £560,000 to set up and run - but only treated 36 people
A pioneering project which saw hospital patients cared for in a Norwich hotel has been criticised as a “wholly unacceptable” use of public money.
The pilot scheme, which saw patients transferred from local hospitals to the Holiday Inn, on Ipswich Road, has drawn stinging criticism from Care England, an industry body for the care sector.
The three-month trial, which ended in April, was led by the Norfolk and Waveney Clinical Commissioning Group and was intended to ease pressures on hospitals by freeing up beds.
But the so-called ‘care hotel’, which cost £560,000 to set up and run, treated just 36 people – meaning it cost the equivalent of £15,555 per patient.
Professor Martin Green, chief executive of Care England, said: “The ‘care hotel’ initiative represented mismanagement of public funds on a scale that is wholly unacceptable.
“It also emphasises the lack of capacity planning across the NHS and social care sectors, local health and social care economies should be ensuring that there is enough community provision to meet demand.”
He argued that independent local adult social care services can offer taxpayers better value for money, calling for lessons to be learnt and for the sector to be better involved in the future.
However, the CCG defended the scheme. A spokesman said: “It was trialled when our area’s health and care system was in a critical incident due to sustained and unprecedented pressures on services.
“This pilot helped to speed up the passage of patients through our local hospitals and freed up a number of beds for those that need more urgent medical treatment, providing a more suitable environment for patients on their recovery journey.”
The trial was intended as a short-term measure to help relieve pressures on hospitals, by providing beds for patients who needed additional care being going home.
It treated people with an average age of 78, who stayed for an average of 16-and-a-half days.
According to figures collated by Age UK, it costs £2,500 per week to keep a person in hospital – meaning the care hotel’s £15,555 per patient cost, based on the average stay, was around three times this amount.