Health chiefs have been asked to explain shock figures which have revealed a sharp increase in bed days lost due to delays in discharging elderly people.
Members of the Angus Integration Joint Board were given an update on the steady rise from 3,939 days in the third quarter of 2016-17 to 5,005 days in the same period in 2017-18.
A report put to the board meeting in Forfar by the Angus Health and Social Care Partnership noted south Angus has seen an increase of more than 100% .
The south east had an increase from 342 days to 817 bed days lost, with the south west recorded an increase from 411 to 908 bed days lost.
A full report will now be considered at the board’s next meeting.
The Angus Health and Social Care Partnership has blamed freezing weather in December and January and the flu outbreak, adding lessons had been learned.
A partnership spokesperson said: “Hospital discharge performance is the subject of continuous review and analysis by partnership staff.
“Decision-making in individual cases is complex and involves needs assessment, care planning, individual choice, risk management, family inputs and the matching of need to resources, such as personal care at home and residential care.
“The need for services continues to increase and personal care at home provision moved from 4,500 hours per week in 2015 to 7,200 hours per week in 2017.
“The freezing weather in December and January and the flu outbreak increased hospital admissions and therefore demand for discharge.
“The partnership responded with a number of new measures to meet demand.
“This challenging picture, the partnership’s response to it, and lessons learned for next winter, will be included in the report to the Angus IJB in April.”
Lois Speed, Independent councillor for Arbroath East and Lunan and vice-chair of the IJB, said she was fully aware of the pressures and challenges that Angus Health and Social Care Partnership are under.
“ I regularly seek out updates around performance.
“I have been given assurances that the enablement and response team is now fully established despite delays which were outwith our control.
“This is all something that I will be keeping a close eye on and will welcome the full report at the next IJB and will be hoping to see further improvements.
“Everyone involved is working hard and is committed to tackling this.”
