THE number of patients blocking beds at Great Western Hospital is almost double the national target, says an NHS boss.

Nerissa Vaughan, chief exectutive of GWH, told the hospital’s NHS Foundation Trust’s council of governors that around 38 patients were left waiting to be discharged every day in May this year.

The bed-blocking figures were up almost a third (31 per cent) from the previous month – and up 49 per cent on April the previous year.

Bed-blocking patients are those who have completed their treatment and are waiting to be taken home or for beds to be made available in care homes and other facilities.

The 32 governors are responsible for holding to account the hospital’s board of directors.

In her report, Ms Vaughan said that the hospital had experienced 1,176 delayed transfers of care days in May.

Ms Vaughan said that the hospital’s newly introduced Integrated Discharge Service should help reduce delays by identifying patients ready to leave hospital and work with other organisations to find them beds elsewhere.

She said: “This huge operational challenge should not be seen in isolation. It’s a symptom of the increasing pressures facing the health and social care system across the town.”

In her report Ms Vaughan said GWH’s emergency department had treated almost 7,000 patients in May – up by nine per cent on the number seen in April.

Almost all – 92.1 per cent – who attended the GWH emergency department, urgent care centre or minor injury units in Chippenham and Trowbridge, were treated, admitted or discharged within four hours of their arrival.

NHS targets state that all patients should be seen within four hours of arriving at A&E.

Ms Vaughan said that a new unit at the hospital was helping to reduce the burden on emergency department staff.

The Medically Expected Unit which was opened in March cares for patients referred to the hospital by their GP for urgent or emergency care.

Last month the Advertiser reported on concerns about bed blocking raised at the annual general meeting of Swindon’s Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG).

The CCG, which pays for the healthcare of 232,000 people in Swindon and Shrivenham, said in their annual report that 7.3 per cent of all bed days at GWH last year were taken up by people waiting to be sent home or for care elsewhere but who were prevented from doing so.

The figure is double the national target of 3.5 per cent.

The CCG said that growing delays for patients who live outside Swindon were behind the high bed-blocking figures and that pressures on urgent care in Swindon mirrored challenges seen across the country.

Nicki Millin, accountable officer at Swindon CCG, said: “There are a number of patients who are waiting at hospital for longer than they need to.

“Sometimes it may be that you need a specialist placement. Sometimes it may be that there are a lot of people waiting to go at the same time.”