Health chiefs are set to extend a programme to tackle bed blocking in the Granite City – by taking more care home beds.
Aberdeen City Health and Social Care Partnership wants to use 13 places in nursing homes in an attempt to drive down delayed discharge in city hospitals.
A total of six beds had been secured but the contract is due to expire in November.
Members of the Integrated Joint Board (IJB) – which oversees the sector – meet next week to discuss extending the project for another two years.
The beds would be earmarked for over 65s and the IJB have already been in touch with the three care homes.
The number of patients delayed in hospitals has fallen from 147 in 2015/16 to 82 in 16/17, a report for the meeting says.
The cost of the beds this year have so far been £139,314 – an approximate saving of £686,000 on what it would have cost the NHS to keep the patients in hospital.
It reads: “Given the success of the original tranche of six nursing care home beds in reducing nursing care home related delays in hospital, it was agreed by both the City Delayed Discharge Group and the Aberdeen City IJB to expand the initiative.
“Given that the funding approved by the IJB expires at the end of November 2017, consideration is required as to the future of the interim beds.”
IJB committee member John Cooke said delayed discharge figures were “heading in the right direction”.
He said: “Delayed discharge is a huge issue for the NHS across the country so of course this applies to the north-east as well.
“It is more expensive to treat someone in hospital if they don’t require that level of care. If care homes are able to provide that intermediate sort of care then we should of course look at it.
“I think this is something that needs to be looked at on an ongoing basis, if it proves successful then perhaps we could go for more beds.
“The figures now seem to be heading in the right direction but of course that is no reason for complacency.”
