Major NHS shake-up will free up tens of thousands of beds in every hospital by discharging patients on the same day they are admitted

A major overhaul of NHS care has saved tens of thousands of patients hospital nights.

Rapid treatment units, which now operate in all major A&E departments across England, have discharged more than 200,000 patients on the same day in the last year. This was an increase of 11 percent in one year.

Freeing up beds gives hospitals the much-needed extra capacity to clear huge backlogs.

‘Same Day’ Emergency Services (SDECs) have even allowed some trusts to free up 30 per cent of their beds.

NHS chief executive Amanda Pritchard described the plan as ‘one of the biggest changes to emergency care in recent years’.

She wrote in the Daily Express: ‘No one wants to spend a night in the hospital if it is not necessary.

‘So these services are about bringing the expertise available in wards closer to the front door – with a mission to support as many people as possible to return to the comfort of their home that same day to rest and recover after they have received care. and the treatment they needed.

‘While challenges and pressures remain, and there is still much work to do to continue this progress, the NHS always strives to deliver the best care for patients.

“This is a fantastic example of staff going above and beyond to help people get high-quality care when they need it most.”

SDEC facilities offering on-site testing to speed treatment and reduce footfall in flooded victim units.

They are usually delivered from special units, close to the emergency department.

Patients can be sent there via the emergency department, or even referred directly by their GP.

The initiative allows some patients who require several days of treatment to go home every evening and return the next day.

From this year, all 170 major emergency departments in England now have medical SDECs.

Some offer additional specialized units such as pediatrics and gynecology.

Nationally, in the year ending January 2024, more than two million patients were discharged on the same day, rather than having to stay overnight.

This was more than 200,000 more than the 1.8 million twelve months earlier.

West Cumberland Hospital in North Cumbria is among SDEC’s success stories, with the department reportedly reducing hospital admissions by 30 per cent.

At another hospital, King George Hospital in Redbridge, the total number of emergency patients seen within four hours has increased by almost 50 per cent.

The rollout comes as A&Es are also facing record demand.

More than 1.7 million people in England have been taken to hospitals by ambulance this winter – 260,000 more than in the same period a year ago.

Shocking figures earlier this week showed this Last year, more than 150,000 patients had to wait at least 24 hours in the war wards.

Nationally, the number waiting a full day for a bed in overcrowded emergency departments has increased tenfold since 2019, with older and vulnerable patients hardest hit.

Patients had to wait more than 50 ‘agonizing’ hours in A&E, with one 79-year-old grandfather spending two-and-a-half days in a chair before being given a spot on a ward.

A major cause of so-called ‘corridor waits’ is the sheer number of patients being held in hospital despite being healthy enough to leave.

These delayed discharges of ‘bed blockers’ are often caused by a lack of suitable places for patients to be transferred to, amid a shortage of places in care homes, and by insufficient support from carers to enable patients to return home .

This in turn causes hospital beds to fill up and backlogs in emergency departments.

Cutting waiting times for treatments was one of five priorities set out by Rishi Sunak last year.

Long or unnecessary stays in hospitals can make people weaker and sicker.