Letter: Solution to Northern Ireland's bed blocking problem that’s a win for everyone
A letter from Irwin Armstrong:
We all know the NHS is suffering severe problems, and we need to think about extraordinary measures to cover short term issues.
The major short-term issue seems to be bed blocking, with 500 or even more people awaiting care packages to enable them to be discharged - this has led to patients being held in trollies or ambulances.
We have a resource in Northern Ireland of over 140 hotels with 9,500 beds which could provide a short-term solution as a temporary extension of the health service.
The cost of a bed day in the NHS is around £400 per day; in a 2/3* hotel it could be £100-150 per night. To staff it with care workers, 500 people by £100 per day.
That would give a total monthly cost of £1,500,000 for staff and £2,000,000 for accommodation and food – a total of £3,500,000 out of a monthly NHS budget of £670,000,000.
The major issue would be finding the estimated 500 people to staff the hotels adequately, but if the hotels are spread around the 18 major hospital areas only about 30 would be needed in each area.
Using less than 1% of the budget would create space in the wards, free up ambulances to pick up patients and ease stress on the NHS staff.
Surely a win for everyone.
Irwin Armstrong, Ballymena