Home care no substitute for lost beds, say patients

THE head of a patients’ group in Henley says that losing seven care beds in Henley will be “another nail in the coffin” for healthcare in the area.

Janet Waters, who chairs the Bell Surgery’s Patient Participation Group, has written a formal objection to the closure of the short stay beds at Chilterns Court care centre.

The beds are mainly used by patients recovering from problems such as hip and shoulder operations, who have been living independently previously.

The Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire West Integrated Care Board and Oxfordshire County Council are to stop funding them at the end of the year to focus on care at home instead.

They say Oxfordshire needs to meet a national requirement of 95 per cent of people being discharged from acute hospital beds going home to live independently or with support.

The number of short stay beds across the county will fall from 94 to 63 this winter and to between 40 and 45 from April, with none in Henley. The 63 beds will be based at care homes in Banbury, Chipping Norton, Abingdon and Oxford.

In a letter to Dan Leveson, place director for the care board, Mrs Waters says: “Members of the patient participation group would like to place on record our absolute objection to the removal of the seven short stay beds.

“We are aware of the reduction in the number of beds since the original 11 beds were commissioned and this is another erosion of local services. There has been no communication prior to this decision with the GPs or local community.

“We would like to equally place on record the fact that the group is frustrated and annoyed by the lack of engagement and consultation by the care board about this issue. This flies in the face of equality of healthcare across the region.”

Mrs Waters says her group has first-hand experience of patients leaving acute settings and needing support for two weeks while resources are put in place for their ongoing care.

She says: “We welcome additional co-ordinated support. However, this is not yet proven in this area and is no substitute for the short stay beds. We can see a two-tier system arising with those who can pay securing the service privately, leaving inequality and distant inaccessible services for those needing a short stay bed. This is unsatisfactory.”

Mrs Waters told the Henley Standard that while the concept of more home care made sense, she didn’t think it would work without any short stay beds in South Oxfordshire.

He said: “We understand that the push is to get people home and we are not opposed to that.

“However, the reality is that is not the answer for elderly and frail people who need that little period before they are okay to be at home.

“We are incensed and this is another nail in the coffin for South Oxfordshire.” Mrs Waters criticised the care board and county council determining the location of the remaining beds by “market factors”,

She said: “They might not have taken location into account when considering ‘market factors’ but we have already lost the Sue Ryder [hospice], the four rapid access care unit beds, which we fought long and hard for, and now these other seven beds.

“The problem is the rhetoric — while on paper it might sound good, in reality it’s not. It is ridiculous to say ‘market factors’. They have gone for the cheapest rather than looking at having beds across the county.”

Meanwhile, her group has found that patients from Henley could have to travel up to 51 miles to find the nearest short stay care bed from next year.

It has compiled a document setting out how long it will take to reach the five care homes with the remaining beds by car, bus and train and the cost of a taxi.

Chacombe Park in Banbury is 51 miles away, one hour by car and three hours and 21 minutes by train and bus followed by a four-minute walk. The estimated cost of travel is between £29 and £96. By bus it would take four hours and 33 minutes, with three changes and walks of nine and five minutes. A taxi ride is estimated at £130.

Henry Cornish in Chipping Norton is 44 miles away, one hour by car. A train and bus journey would take two hours and 39 minutes followed by a two-minute walk. The cost is estimated at between £22 and £71. A bus journey would take three hours and 18 minutes with two changes and two walks of seven and two minutes. The estimated cost is £8 to £12. A taxi would cost between £100 and £130.

Albany in Headington, Oxford, is 27.4 miles away and would take 38 minutes by car, one hour and 45 minutes by train and then bus followed by a seven-minute walk, costing upwards of £18. A bus journey would take one hour and 35 minutes and cost between £4 and £6. A taxi ride to the John Radcliffe Hospital nearby would cost between £65 and £85.

Isis in Iffley, Oxford, is 22 miles away and would take 31 minutes by car. There is an hourly bus service, which requires one change, followed by a three-minute walk. A taxi would cost between £55 and £75.

The Close in Abingdon is 15.7 miles away and would take 23 minutes to reach by car. By bus, it is a journey of one hour and four minutes, alighting in a lay-by on the A4074, followed by a four-minute walk along the A415. A taxi journey would cost between £40 and £50.

The county council has said that “market forces rather than geography” is the reason why there will be no beds available in South Oxfordshire. It also said that the Henley beds were paid for by the council so it doesn’t need to consult on their closure.

Mr Leveson told a meeting last month that short stay care beds were becoming “increasingly less useful” and that patients would be put in places close to where they live “if possible”.

A statement from Oxfordshire County Council and Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire West Integrated Care Board said: “We are now focusing on delivering more care support at home for people who are medically fit to leave hospital. Through our new discharge to assess system, we are supporting more people at home and trends show we need fewer short stay hub beds in Oxfordshire.

“The current short stay hub beds in Chilterns Court were joint commissioned by BOB ICB and Oxfordshire County Council but they are contracted by Oxfordshire County Council. As part of our work to get people home as quickly as possible and supporting more people in their home after a hospital stay, we no longer need as many short stay hub beds across Oxfordshire.”