Leaders of Fife’s health board and council seemed to bury the hatchet on Friday night by displaying a united front on tackling the region’s bed blocking crisis.
After the much-publicised spat between the organisations over funding, Fife Council leader Peter Grant and Professor Jim McGoldrick, chairman of NHS Fife, issued an unprecedented joint statement reaffirming their willingness to work together to solve the problems facing them.
The commitment comes after days of apparent tension between the two bodies, largely caused by the spiralling number of delayed discharges in Fife’s hospitals which have put immense pressure on the whole system.
The Courier highlighted the situation this week after a visit to Kirkcaldy’s Victoria Hospital, where front-line staff bemoaned the effect bed blocking was having on the NHS with doctors and nurses stretched to the limit, patients having to be ‘boarded’ to other wards and operations cancelled at short notice.
The most recently published figures for October suggested there were 103 delayed discharges in the system and 26 people waiting for more than six weeks, although those figures are understood to have risen sharply in November and December.
Nevertheless, the organisations appear keen to put their differences behind them and sort out the mess, although it remained unclear last night exactly how the situation will be resolved.
“Fife Council and NHS Fife share a responsibility to the population of Fife,” the joint statement read. We are in it together.
“We are the two biggest employers in Fife, and we have a long track record of strong joint working.
“Our joint approach to the problems of alcohol and drug misuse for example is well recognised, and we developed the first local strategy for meeting the needs of people with dementia.
“We recognise however that, in common with the rest of Scotland, the ageing population presents us with a real challenge, as well as a real opportunity.”
“As the number of people over 75 and indeed over 85 continues to increase, and as they make up a larger share of the population, we cannot continue to respond by building more and more beds, whether in hospital or in care homes.Unsustainable”That approach is unsustainable, and it is not what the individuals themselves want.
“Following the lead of the Scottish Ministerial Strategic Group on Reshaping Care for Older People, we are determined Fife will find the right mix of services for our population.”
The row started brewing last month when Fife Council offered to put up £250,000 towards the problem of delayed discharges, provided that could be matched by NHS Fife.
That £500,000 package, it was suggested at the time, would take around 100 people out of hospital.
However, it emerged before Christmas that agreement had been reached on a £224,000 deal, with £112,000 coming from both the council and NHS.
Following that, it emerged that some senior figures at NHS Fife felt the council’s offer was more of an ultimatum and provoked anger from some quarters.
NHS Fife operational division chairman Dave Stewart likened councillors to highwayman Dick Turpin and maintained it was the council’s responsibility to provide care packages for people leaving hospital.
Mr Grant and Professor McGoldrick last night admitted both organisations face a “real problem” in the number of people stuck in hospitals and pledged to address it.
“Despite our successes, there are today far too many people waiting in hospital to get back home,” they conceded.
“And we acknowledge that the resulting pressure in hospitals has meant a number of other people have not got into hospital when they should.
“In response to these real problems, both the council and NHS are putting extra money into the provision of home care and residential care.
“We expect to see in January alone extra residential care placements organised by the council, and we want to see a similar expansion in home care.
“It is also important that we pay tribute to the continuing dedication of staff in both organisations. We really appreciate their hard work and commitment.
“As leader of the council and chair of NHS Fife we intend to solve this problem, together, and in the best interests of Fife.”
The £224,000 package is understood to have helped the discharge of 38 people since December 30, over and above normal activity, but more needs to be done to bring the situation under control.