‘Bed-blocking’ due to social care falls

The proporation of delayed discharges from England’s hospitasl due to a lack of a suitable social care placement has reduced in the past 12 months. Figures for December 2012 released by the Department of Health showed that of the 107,631 total delayed transfers of care for the month, just over one quarter were attributable to the social care sector with 6.5% caused by both the NHS and the social care sector. Delays attributable to social care, howev er, have decreased by 4,624 days since December 2011 and now account for 26.6% of all delayed days, compared to 29.7% in December 2011.