Covid Patients: Get Them Home ASAP
Medics urge Welsh Government to reduce delays in discharging patients
The Welsh Government's being asked to look at ways of getting covid patients home as soon as they're well enough to leave hospital.
The Royal College of Physicians says hospitals need to reduce delays in discharging people wherever possible.
The calls come as we approached the lifting of restrictions over Christmas.
RCP Cymru Wales vice president, Dr Olwen Williams said: ‘Staff are exhausted; it’s been such a tough year for everyone, especially frontline health and social care workers.
‘It’s almost impossible to talk about the pandemic without sounding clichéd these days, but we really are facing unprecedented and sustained pressure on the NHS, and it’s more important than ever that we get people home as soon as they are well enough to leave hospital. We’re starting to run out of hospital beds for critically ill patients now, and the real winter challenges are still to come.
‘The longer vulnerable people stay in hospital, the greater the risk to their health. Health boards and local authorities must work together and communicate clearly with families to keep patients safe. It’s all a balance of risk, but we need to be kinder to one another and remember that everybody is under immense stress at the moment. Patients and their families must come first, which means we need to look at the whole system and reduce delays in discharge wherever possible. The priority should be getting patients home and out of hospital. We’ve previously called on the Welsh government to review hospital discharge guidance, and today we’re repeating that call as we get closer to the lifting of restrictions over Christmas.
‘In the meantime, we all need to observe ‘hands, face, space’, and I’d also encourage all frontline NHS workers to take up the new vaccine. With rates of COVID-19 increasing across Wales, it is more important than ever to help stop the spread of coronavirus, relieve pressure on the NHS and keep the workforce healthy.
‘As more people receive the vaccine and we get closer to beating this disease, now is the time to work together to make sure staff are heard and supported.’
In the longer term, the recently published NHS and social care workforce strategy also gives us the opportunity to prioritise staff health and wellbeing in the future. We were delighted to see the Welsh government announce an increase in medical training places recently, but there are no quick fixes, and it takes years to train a doctor. The RCP is calling on politicians to #SayThanks by committing to:
- Fair, flexible and filled clinical rotas
- Guaranteed protected time for research, QI, leadership and education
- Funded junior and specialty doctor forums for every hospital
- Wellbeing executive leads with staff support for every health board