This afternoon Andrew presented his Healthcare (Delayed Discharges) Bill in the Commons.
The measure introduced under the ten minute rule bill procedure aims to reduce the number of frail elderly people waiting in acute hospital beds for transfer to more homely settings in the community – their own home, community hospitals or nursing homes.
Andrew introduced a similar bill in 2002 when local community hospitals were under threat. It was followed by the then government’s own delayed discharge bill which was subsequently overtaken by major changes to healthcare legislation. The MP’s renewed attempt to improve the situation for elderly frail patients in hospital follows his late mother in law’s experience before Christmas. He said;
“Thousands of frail elderly people who are medically ready for discharge are in wholly inappropriate acute hospital beds when they should be in homely settings in the community. It’s heart breaking, especially when the delay is in the last few days of a person’s life. We can and must do better.”
Andrew has long championed community hospitals, his first job having been as a part time hospital porter in a small town cottage hospital before he went to medical school.