In Health and Social Care questions in the House of Commons, Warrington South MP Andy Carter raised with Government ministers the pressures Warrington Hospital is under as a result of high rates of long-term patients unable to be discharged due to lack of appropriate aftercare provision.
Questioning Helen Whately MP, the Minister for Social Care, Andy Carter pointed out that “Warrington is at least ninety beds short in terms of step-down care” and asked about availability of capital funding to tackle the problem.
The Warrington South MP said:
“Our local hospital has too many long-term patients who simply can’t be discharged because there’s nowhere for them to go. We have two local NHS Trusts, our Local Authority, the ICB – no longer in Warrington but now in Liverpool – but no action is being taken.”
The MP invited the Minister to visit Warrington to meet with himself and local NHS leaders, to help secure access for patients spending too long in acute hospital care.
In response, Helen Whately said:
“My Honourable Friend is absolutely right about patients spending too long in acute care in his own hospital and we know this is affecting other people around the country.”
“…I’d very much like to visit his hospital and speak to his NHS and, for instance, the Local Authority and other stakeholders to make sure we can improve this problem.”
The to-be-arranged ministerial visit comes as the latest intervention by the Andy Carter to see improved healthcare provision in the town, following the opening of the Warrington Hospital’s Same Day Emergency Care Unit and also its new radiology centre earlier this year. Warrington’s bid for a £317million new hospital, which the MP is continuing to press with the ministers, is currently under review by the Department for Health and Social Care.
