Funding boost to crack Bristol hospital bed-blocking crisis

Health leaders hope the cash will help ease pressure on A&E and the ambulance service

Health leaders have been given millions of pounds to help ease "harmful" hospital bed-blocking.

The new local health authority board of Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire will share £11.5m of government funding.

Hospital wards are currently busy with patients who are well enough to leave.

The cash will help get people into the most appropriate setting in the community, which should ease pressures on A&E and the ambulance service.

The money comes from a £500m Department of Health and Social Care emergency pot to be used on getting medically fit patients out of hospital, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

Ambulance crews across the country have been facing handover delays when arriving at A&E with patients

It can be used to pay for more adult social care staff or can also be used to free up hospital beds in other ways - such as homecare and a programme called "discharge to assess" where patients continue to have their care and assessment out of hospital.

Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire Integrated Care Board (ICB) chief executive Shane Devlin told a meeting of the board that many of its longer-term priorities had been suspended until April.

'Massive harm'

"No matter which way we cut this, the most important thing for winter is can we get 'flow' and can we assure ourselves that people who don't need to be in hospital aren't in hospital," he said.

"We know that causes a massive amount of harm, not only to people in bed, both cognitively and physically, but also in flow with regard to ambulances," he added.

A report to the board said the ICB had been allocated £8.3million, Bristol City Council £1.7million, South Gloucestershire Council £780,000 and North Somerset Council £770,000 for its social care departments, with all money pooled.

"The focus is on making systems and processes work better to make the job of the individual in the ward or the care worker actually manageable," added Mr Devlin.

Additional reporting by Nathan Heath

Follow BBC West on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Send your story ideas to: [e-mail]