Hospital “bed blocking” on increase in York

Bed blocking

The number of delayed discharges from hospital is increasing as the York Council struggles to provide care in the community places.

The delays mean that the Council has to pay substantial “fines” and in turn the “blockage” can prevent new patients being admitted to NHS beds.

The delays have reached record levels as the weekly average figures (for patients awaiting discharge to community placements) for the last few years reveal.

  • 2009/10 – 7.98
  • 2010/11 – 10.13
  • 2011/12 – 8.69
  • 2012/13 – 10.67
  • 2013/14 – 11.00 (to September)

The figures were reported to both the York Council’s “Cabinet” on 5th November and its Health Scrutiny Committee on 27th November

Neither minuted any action which they planned take to address the growing crisis.

Some of the delays are being put down to inadequate capacity in the “reablement” unit. This team seeks to train former patients to be more self-reliant.

It is the winter period when demand for NHS beds is at its highest.

The last thing that the City needs is for those that are available to be blocked by people who could, with support

Books on prescription

Residents tackling mental health issues have a brand new route to free treatment in York.

In partnership with national health professionals, York’s Libraries are launching an innovative mental health self-help initiative.

Books on prescription

The Books on Prescription scheme follows the opening of new reading café at a mental health treatment centre in the city, and enables GPs and mental health professionals to write a ‘book prescription’ as part of a patients’ cognitive behavioural therapy.

This recommends reading from a set of 30 self-help books approved by health professionals and designed to help people address or manage health problems such as anxiety or depression.

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Lowfields older peoples village gets dementia care specialist

Artists impression of new "care village"

Artists impression of new “care village”

Dementia Care specialist, Dementia Care Matters, is to help provide high quality care to those suffering from the condition in York.

 

Dementia Care Matters will advise the council on the operating model for its two new specialist dementia care Elderly Person’s Homes at Lowfield and Burnholme, as well as supporting and training existing care home staff to ensure they can deliver specialist care in the new homes.
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New figures reveal hundreds of thousands of children regularly exposed to second-hand smoke in a car

passive-smoking-172463679

New figures released by the British Lung Foundation (BLF) that show around 185,000 children between the ages of 11-15 in England are exposed to potentially toxic concentrations of second-hand smoke in their family car every day or most days.

That’s the equivalent of more than 6,100 classrooms full of children.

Dr Paul Edmondson-Jones, Director of Health and Wellbeing at City of York Council said:

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Alcohol in York

Funny-Drunk-People-Picture-04

York is supporting this year’s Alcohol Awareness Week which is taking place from 18 to 22 November.

Alcohol has an important role in many people’s social lives but it is easy to underestimate how much or how often we are drinking, and that it is causing harm to ourselves and others.Local statistics for York suggest that 20% of people who drink alcohol in the city are drinking in ways that put their health at risk.

In 2010/11 in York, more than 3,000 people were admitted to hospital for alcohol-related illnesses (Local Alcohol Profiles for England, calculated from indicators 10 and 11), and an estimated 18,000 attended A&E (estimate from Alcohol Concern’s alcohol harm map http://www.alcoholconcern.org.uk/campaign/alcohol-harm-map)

 

The cost to the city’s health services due to alcohol misuse alone is estimated at £58 per adult resident (alcohol concern alcohol harm map as above.)

Alcohol misuse can also fuel violent crime: in 2010/11 there were estimated to be four violent crimes attributable to alcohol for every 1,000 people in York (local alcohol profile as above indicator 16).

Estimates of the number of people who binge drink is above the national average (local area alcohol profile indicator 24.)
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Keeping warm in winter

City of York Council says that it is is supporting Public Health England’s Cold Weather Plan which looks at ways of reducing unnecessary deaths and illness this winter.

click to access

click to access

That’s a bit rich coming from a Council that has just decided to scrap 2/3 of the city’s self help salt bins and take around 30 miles of road off the gritting schedules.

Alternative view

They say that there are between 2000 and 2500 excess winter deaths each year in Yorkshire and Humber, many of which are preventable. The Cold Weather Plan aims to prevent avoidable harm to people’s health by highlighting the negative health effects cold weather can have whilst enabling people to prepare and respond appropriately.

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Hundreds in York could add years to their lives

More than 750 people in York joined a quarter of a million people across the nation in turning their back on cigarettes this month in the mass 28-day stop smoking challenge, Stoptober.

Research shows that stopping smoking for 28 days can extend your life by up to one week if you remain smokefree.  The new ex-smokers from York are therefore celebrating their first steps towards a healthier, smokefreelife, and if they succeed in quitting for good, they could collectively add more than 14 years of life to the city’s population.

Stop-Smoking-Aids

Taking part in Stoptober has reaped additional benefits:

·The average smoker has 13 cigarettes a day, which equates to 364 cigarettes every four weeks.  Stoptober would have saved them £141 each over four weeks and if they remain smokefree they could save £423 by Christmas and £1,696 in a year.

Collectively, if all Stoptober participants in York quit for the 28 days this month they would have saved £106,314.

·With the average cigarette taking approximately four minutes to smoke [5], this Stoptober could have saved the average smoker over 24 hours by not smoking; and cumulatively the nation’s Stoptober participants would have gained over 680 years in spare time.

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Cancer awareness campaign starts in York

City of York Council is supporting the NHS Be Clear on Cancer ‘Blood in Pee’ campaign.

The campaign will run from 15 October to 20 November 2013 across England. The campaign aims to raise awareness of the key symptom common to both bladder and kidney cancer – blood in pee – and encourage those with this symptom, even if it’s ‘just the once’, to see their doctor straight away. If bladder and kidney cancers are diagnosed early they are more treatable.

Adverts will appear on national TV, radio and in the press.

Around 65 people in York (1774 people in Yorkshire and Humber) are diagnosed with bladder or kidney cancer each year and these cancers account for around 7,500 deaths per year across the country.

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