Secondary healthcare has a target of less than 100 days per month for delayed transfer of care, but in 2024 it averaged 338, and 276 days in 2023.
The target measures the time that patients stay in hospital after they are considered fit for discharge, either because a nursing or care home is not available, or because they need extra care at home.
In 2024, about 12 beds in the PEH were consistently filled with patients who could have been discharged.
‘It reflects the increase in complexity providing health care to generally older, frail patients and the dependency on community services,’ said MSG chairman Steve Evans.
‘The patients are usually older and frail and if they’re in a hospital environment, they lose part of their independence. It’s much better for people to be in their own home trying to maintain as much independence as possible. Even if you’re in a side room at the hospital, it’s not like being in your own home where you have to maintain a small level of mobility.
‘In hospital, that’s taken away from you and you can get deconditioned, and it becomes more difficult to maintain that level of independence.’
He added that it is difficult to recruit staff to provide that sort of care, and the people in the beds do not want to be there.
‘It’s a problem that’s not going to disappear overnight, and we need to work hard to make sure the services are there in the community to keep people out of hospital and to take them back into the community when they’re out of hospital,’ he said.
The report said that there has been a noticeable increase since 2022 due to pressure for long-term care. Delayed transfers of care reduce the number of beds available to other patients and mean unnecessarily long stays in hospital.
At the end of 2024, there were 18 patients in hospital awaiting appropriate discharge, compared to 14 in 2023.
Health & Social Care president Al Brouard said that it was estimated that an additional 132 care beds will be needed by 2030 to meet the increasing demand.
‘There is pressure for long-term care across all care sectors that is not unique to Guernsey and is reflected at a national level too,’ he said.
‘Demand for longterm care is projected to increase significantly in the coming decades due to demographic changes.
‘This is a pressing issue that HSC cannot solve alone and illustrates that investment in health and social care must continue because demand is only going up.’
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