Ruth John, the widow of Alan John, who passed away after waiting for months for a carer so he could return home, has claimed that “the sick and most vulnerable” are forgotten. Alan was admitted to South Pembrokeshire Hospital in December 2021 after a fall. In June 2022, he could have gone home, but his wife said that around 100 others also required a carer, and he died in October with no carer assigned to him. Ruth said that all Alan wanted after months of treatment was to see his garden, but he died without being able to return home. Despite this, Ruth is not critical of NHS or council staff, who “did their best.”
Pembrokeshire council apologized for delays in finding care but said it is working within a financially pressured environment and has made significant steps to address the shortage of care workers. A snapshot figure taken on one day at the end of April showed that around 1,750 people in hospitals in Wales were fit enough to go home but could not.
A doctors’ union said that the pressure on A&E departments due to discharge delays was “worse than it has ever been,” which is why Cardiff and Vale health board declared a “business continuity incident” this week because of a lack of beds caused by “lengthy patient discharges.” The Welsh government said that it had a £146m fund to support people to return home and £25m to avoid admissions.
BBC Wales Investigates revealed in July that patients were stuck in hospital for up to 11 months awaiting carers and the latest figures do not suggest that the number of people waiting for a care home placement (26%) or care at home (12%) has reduced. Stephen Kelly, a respiratory consultant from British Medical Association Cymru, stated that although the Welsh government is hopeful, the figures would not come as a surprise to his colleagues in A&E, and that what was “crystal clear is that it is worse than it has ever been.
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