HEALTH minister Simon Burns has urged county council and hospital trust managers to work together to combat Oxfordshire’s chronic bed blocking problem.

Mr Burns yesterday visited Abingdon Community Hospital to see the work staff are undertaking to tackle delays in patients being discharged from hospital.

In September, Oxfordshire was the worst place in England for bed blocking, but the minister insisted the Government was providing extra funding to tackle the problem.

Mr Burns, who was joined by Oxford West and Abingdon MP Nicola Blackwood, said community hospitals, like the one in Abingdon, had a crucial role to play in taking pressure off hospitals like the John Radcliffe in Oxford.

Following a tour of the wards at the 46-bed hospital off Marcham Road, he said: “There are times when patients have to stay overnight at acute hospitals when clinically they should not be there.

“These patients can come here on a daily basis or be looked after in their homes.”

When Mr Burns was asked whose fault the bed blocking was – the county council’s or the Government’s – he said: “I am not going to get into the blame game. The Department of Health believes that no-one should be kept in hospital longer than is clinically necessary.”

Mr Burns explained that the local authority should work with the health trusts to combat bed blocking.

And he added: “We are providing £150m extra nationwide for reablement, which involves adapting patient’s homes, and £648m extra to local authorities for all aspects of social care, which may include tackling delayed discharges.

“Decisions on minimising delayed discharges have to be taken at a local level.”

Oxford Health’s chief operating officer David Bradley said about 80 per cent of patients using the 46 beds at Abingdon had first been treated at the John Radcliffe.

He said: “Bed blocking is a complex problem and more beds is not the answer. It is much better if patients can be treated at home.

“Since January, our Hospital at Home scheme has been staffed by 12 nurses at Abingdon Community Hospital and covers South Oxfordshire, soon it will be covering the whole of the county.

“Nurses go into people’s homes and provide the care that stops admission to hospital.

“It is a relatively new service, but it is working, and we are working with GPs and the local authorities on a range of measures that will reduce the number of delayed transfers.”

Ms Blackwood said: “The Abingdon hospital is an incredibly valuable asset for our community, bringing health services closer to residents’ homes, reducing the workload on hospital services in Oxford.”

In June, figures showed the problem of delayed transfers of care from hospitals to community care had worsened over the previous six months.

Arash Fatemian, county councillor responsible for social care, said: “I think the Government is investing enough money in tackling bed blocking in Oxfordshire at the moment.

“We are working very closely with the NHS on this and will continue to do so.”