Lack of social care has led to 2.5 million lost NHS bed days – Alzheimer’s Society comment

New Age UK analysis has found that, during the 917 days between the last General Election on 8th June 2017 and the upcoming Election on 12th December 2019, the lack of social care resulted in 2.5 million lost bed days in the NHS. This failure, driven by the social care crisis, cost the NHS £587 million overall throughout this period, which is equivalent to £640,000 every day or £27,000 every hour.

Sally Copley, Director of Policy and Campaigns at Alzheimer’s Society, said:

'Yet again, here’s compelling and indisputable evidence of the social care crisis gripping this country. The failings in the social care system are pushing families with dementia to breaking point, and leaving too many vulnerable people stuck in hospital with nowhere else to go.

We hear tragic stories through our Fix Dementia Care campaign - a mother who spent years in hospital while being turned away from care home after care home, a woman who spent two months on a bed in a corridor because she couldn’t get a care home place.

'Winter is well on its way, and pressure on hospitals is only going to get worse. Whoever forms a new Government cannot hide from this crisis a minute longer - they must commit to both immediate investment and longer term radical reform that ensures everyone with dementia can access good quality social care, instead of being stranded in hospital. Fixing this problem is not just the humane thing to do, it is the smart thing to do – it’s clearly ridiculous to not address it when it is more expensive to keep a person with dementia in hospital than for them to get the care they need and deserve.'