Merton is one of the top London boroughs to have the lowest levels of delayed transfers of care from hospital according to the latest figures released by NHS England.  

During one of the busiest winters in the NHS, the borough reduced the number of people waiting to leave hospital, coming only second behind City of London. A delayed transfer of care occurs when a patient is medically fit to be discharged from hospital from acute or non-acute care, yet is still occupying a bed.

The reduction in delayed transfer of care was a result of Merton council working with partners across the NHS , the Voluntary Sector and Housing who looked at patients’ needs to agree the best care support package whether that be transferring to ongoing care or patients returning home supported by the council’s Re-enablement service. The Re-enablement Service supports patients leaving hospital by helping them to regain their independence and is a service in which the council also heavily invested.

Merton’s Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care and Health, Councillor Tobin Byers, “Merton has worked very hard to turn around the numbers in delayed transfer of care, an achievement we’re particularly proud of as it happened during one of the busiest winters for the NHS, putting huge pressure on hospitals to free up beds. 

“The latest figures show that when the wider system work closely together, it is possible to speed up the number of people waiting to leave hospital, so patients can continue to receive the appropriate level of care that they need after leaving hospital”

Notes for Editors:

NHS England publish monthly data on delayed transfers of care.  On the NHS England website the data is shown at provider organisation level – from NHS Trusts, NHS Foundation Trusts and Primary Care Trusts. The latest figures relate to delayed transfer of care cases in January 2018.