Shorter hospital stays?

[Dave24]

My neighbour jst told me that Sheff hospitals are keeping people in for less time. Apparently there cutting down on hospital stays now - am a bit worried about this. Has anyone been let out without treatment because they need your bed?

[tzijlstra]

I think you probably heard part of the full story. The NHS wide policy is gearing towards people being cared for at home rather than in the hospital, this is mainly due to the growing pressure on the number of beds in hospitals in relation to the ageing population.

[mary70]

I think the least amount of time you spend in hospital the better

[RutlandFlyer]

It's not so much about the need for beds. Most people are far more likely to pick up an infection in hospital than they are at home, so modern thinking is to get people back home as soon as it is safe to do so.

 

You're also less likely to be sent to hospital these days than in the past for much the same reasons. More and more conditions that would've been seen in hospitals are now treated in primary care or in the community. It's also one of the reasons that newly built hospitals tend to be smaller than the ones they replace - modern treatment approaches send fewer people to hospitals (which are basically big buildings full of sick people to catch things from) and treat more in larger primary care centres, which can have their own specialist clinics and units for minor surgical procedures. Though Sheffield doesn't seem to have many (any?) of these yet.

[TheBlueDragon]

I'm due to go into hospital next Wednesday for surgery on my knee. First they will try forcing my leg straight but if that doesn't work they will be replacing my knee.

 

My surgeon has told me I'll be in 3days then the rest will be rest at home

[Gazza58]

I think the least amount of time you spend in hospital the better

 

Got to agree with this.

[tzijlstra]

It's not so much about the need for beds. Most people are far more likely to pick up an infection in hospital than they are at home, so modern thinking is to get people back home as soon as it is safe to do so.

 

You're also less likely to be sent to hospital these days than in the past for much the same reasons. More and more conditions that would've been seen in hospitals are now treated in primary care or in the community. It's also one of the reasons that newly built hospitals tend to be smaller than the ones they replace - modern treatment approaches send fewer people to hospitals (which are basically big buildings full of sick people to catch things from) and treat more in larger primary care centres, which can have their own specialist clinics and units for minor surgical procedures. Though Sheffield doesn't seem to have many (any?) of these yet.

 

Thanks for clarifying, I believe I read somewhere that increasing under-capacity/lowering waiting times was also a consideration, but I might be wrong!

[GLASGOWOODS]

My neighbour jst told me that Sheff hospitals are keeping people in for less time. Apparently there cutting down on hospital stays now - am a bit worried about this. Has anyone been let out without treatment because they need your bed?

 

 

A lot of people are kept in hospital clogging up capacity,simply because they don't have anyone to care for them on the outside.

[RutlandFlyer]

That would be true as well. By admitting fewer people and sending them home as soon as they're ready, you're basically saving your staff and facilities for the patients who absolutely need them. It's a marked change from how things used to be and from the outside it can appear that people are being given only cursory care, or that there aren't enough beds to go round. There are challenges to doing things this way - coordination between all the teams involved in a patient's care needs to be very good - but on the whole it's more efficient and there's less risk of hospital-acquired illness.

[tzijlstra]

That would be true as well. By admitting fewer people and sending them home as soon as they're ready, you're basically saving your staff and facilities for the patients who absolutely need them. It's a marked change from how things used to be and from the outside it can appear that people are being given only cursory care, or that there aren't enough beds to go round. There are challenges to doing things this way - coordination between all the teams involved in a patient's care needs to be very good - but on the whole it's more efficient and there's less risk of hospital-acquired illness.

 

Good job the national NHS software is now operational

 

In all seriousness, it makes perfect sense, if I had a choice between a week in a hospital bed and two weeks at home or 3 days in a hospital bed and two and a half weeks at home I would choose the latter any time.