PRESS RELEASE

4 March 2002

RICHARD OTTAWAY HIGHLIGHTS DISTURBING BED BLOCKING FIGURES IN CROYDON

Croydon South MP Richard Ottaway has pointed to newly released NHS performance indicators for Croydon Health Authority as evidence of the crisis in social care across the Borough. The statistics, which were recently published publicly for the first time, show that 5.6% per cent of all discharged patients are re-admitted as an emergency within a month (see table below).

Commenting on this figure, Richard Ottaway said:

"This is a dreadful situation for patients across Croydon. Not only are Croydon's residents waiting too long to be seen, but there is clear evidence that nearly six out of every hundred patients are being sent home from hospital too soon because their beds are needed.

"Labour's chronic mismanagement of the care home sector means Croydon's hospitals have many of their beds blocked by patients who have nowhere else to go. More and more patients are waiting to get into hospital. Hospitals are therefore under enormous pressure to discharge patients as quickly as possible - yet 5.6% per cent of patients end up back in hospital as an emergency within a month. The problem is getting worse in Croydon - readmissions have risen by 11.8 per cent in the last year.

"As I feared, Labour's failure to tackle the care home crisis has resulted in bed blocking and increased readmission rates."

ENDS

If you require further information, please call 020 7219 6392.

Notes to Editors

The Government have recently published NHS Performance Indicators, National Figures: February 2002.
http://www.doh.gov.uk/nhsperformanceindicators/2002/index.html

The table below lists the % of discharged patients readmitted as an emergency within 28 days of discharge for 2000-01, and the change in the last year [a negative % change means an improvement, a positive % change means more readmissions and a worsening situation]
(source: http://www.doh.gov.uk/nhsperformanceindicators/2002/haer28d_d.html)

Health Authority	% readmitted	% change in last year
	(00/01)	(99/00-00/01)
Avon HA	5.1	-19.6
Barking & Havering HA	5.9	-4
Barnet, Enfield & Haringey HA	5.4	-1.7
Barnsley HA	6.8	-0.3
Bedfordshire HA	6.6	10.7
Berkshire HA	5.8	7
Bexley, Greenwich & Bromley HA	5.3	0.1
Birmingham HA	6.6	-3
Bradford HA	6.2	-1
Brent & Harrow HA	4.9	15.1
Buckinghamshire HA	5.5	-1.8
Bury & Rochdale HA	5.5	2.8
Calderdale & Kirklees HA	6.5	-1.5
Cambridgeshire HA	5.7	-8.3
Camden & Islington HA	5.5	-6.8
Cornwall & Isles of Scilly HA	5.8	4.7
County Durham & Darlington HA	6.9	3.7
Coventry HA	7.4	7.3
Croydon HA	5.6	11.8
Doncaster HA	6.5	1.5
Dorset HA	5.2	6.3
Dudley HA	5.4	2.7
Ealing, Hammersmith & Hounslow HA	5.3	-0.7
East Kent HA	5.7	1.3
East Lancashire HA	5.7	-1.5
East London & City HA	6.7	-9.1
East Riding & Hull HA	6.7	2.1
East Surrey HA	5.3	2.8
East Sussex HA	5.6	2.4
Gateshead & S.Tyneside HA	7	1
Gloucestershire HA	5.2	-0.1
Herefordshire HA	4.9	3.2
Hertfordshire HA	5.6	-3.6
Hillingdon HA	5.5	-2.1
Isle of Wight, Portsmouth & SE Hampshire HA	6.5	10.6
Kensington, Chelsea & Westminster HA	5.2	1.1
Kingston & Richmond HA	4.8	4.7
Lambeth, Southwark & Lewisham HA	6.9	-0.6
Leeds HA	6.6	6.2
Leicestershire HA	6.2	3.6
Lincolnshire HA	6.3	10.9
Liverpool HA	6.9	-1.9
Manchester HA	5.3	1.2
Merton, Sutton & Wandsworth HA	5.8	1.5
Morecambe Bay HA	4.9	12.4
Newcastle & North Tyneside HA	6.8	9.6
Norfolk HA	5.2	1.8
North & East Devon HA	5.2	-3.2
North & Mid Hampshire HA	5.6	1.6
North Cheshire HA	7.3	5.1
North Cumbria HA	5.9	-1.7
North Derbyshire HA	6.3	9.9
North Essex HA	5.7	-2.7
North Nottinghamshire HA	7.1	6.7
North Staffordshire HA	5.6	-7.6
North West Lancashire HA	5.4	2.5
North Yorkshire HA	5.5	2.3
Northamptonshire HA	5.7	0.3
Northumberland HA	6.1	5.4
Nottingham HA	7.3	8.5
Oxfordshire HA	5.8	2.6
Redbridge & Waltham Forest HA	6.5	-3.3
Rotherham HA	7.3	5.4
Salford & Trafford HA	5.7	10.9
Sandwell HA	6	2.6
Sefton HA	5.4	-0.3
Sheffield HA	7	-5.3
Shropshire HA	6.3	0.2
Solihull HA	5.9	1.8
Somerset HA	5.4	-6.2
South and West Devon HA	5.5	3.2
South Cheshire HA	6.1	12.9
South Essex HA	6.7	3.6
South Humber HA	6.6	3.3
South Lancashire HA	5	-3.8
South Staffordshire HA	5.2	-1.9
Southampton & SW Hampshire HA	5.8	8.4
Southern Derbyshire HA	6.3	4.2
St Helens & Knowsley HA	7.4	1.4
Stockport HA	5.5	10.5
Suffolk HA	6	1.6
Sunderland HA	7.2	6.6
Tees HA	6.6	-5.1
Wakefield HA	6.8	-1
Walsall HA	6.1	1.7
Warwickshire HA	5.6	1.5
West Kent HA	6.4	18
West Pennine HA	5.5	4.3
West Surrey HA	5.1	5
West Sussex HA	5.6	0.8
Wigan & Bolton HA	6.7	0.7
Wiltshire HA	5.2	-6.5
Wirral HA	6.9	9.4
Wolverhampton HA	7.1	6.3
Worcestershire HA	5.2	-1.5
ENGLAND	6	1.7