by Lucy Ashton
Dame Jackie Baillie, the newly elected Labour MSP for Dumbarton constituency, has called on the Scottish Government to urgently tackle the social care crisis after a Helensburgh pensioner was stuck in hospital for weeks due to the ongoing social care crisis.
The MSP made the call after Neil Smith, 79, was left in hospital as a bed-blocking case, following shoulder replacement surgery at Inverclyde Royal Hospital.
Mr Smith could have been discharged two days after the operation in February, but needed a care package.
Doctors recommended carer support four times a day for the widower.
But Neil was only discharged on March 3rd, against the better judgment of clinicians, after friends and neighbours promised they would be on 24-hour call, should he need their help.
Medics had repeatedly asked for a care package to be provided for Mr Smith, but were unsuccessful.
He finally received contact about care provision on March 17th – three weeks after it should have begun.
Mr Smith, pictured top of page, said: “I received a call on March 17th. I told them they had failed me, and it was too late now.
“I should have had a carer in four times a day. I really don’t want this to happen to anyone else. There are people out there who desperately need this care.”
Neil was told by clinicians at Inverclyde that his bed would be there, should he require to return to hospital if he couldn’t cope at home.
He added: “They weren’t too happy at Inverclyde.”
Other residents have also been hit by failures in social care as cash-strapped Argyll & Bute Health and Social Care Partnership struggles to cope with the demand for carers.
They have acknowledged “challenges” in managing the number of care packages required, but residents say they have been told that funds are not available for the necessary packages.
A care worker who wishes to remain anonymous has supported Neil’s position, adding: “I have worked in care for more than 20 years, and I have never seen it as bad as it is now.
“Patients are being discharged either without any care package or with only the most basic of packages in place. This is leading to hospital readmissions, as well as being unfair and unkind.
“It can often take more than three weeks to get any kind of care package, which is causing further bed-blocking for the NHS.”
Dame Jackie, Scottish Labour’s spokesperson for Health and Social Care, has highlighted the case and called on the new Scottish Government to tackle the social care crisis at a time when Health and Social Care Partnerships (HSCPs) across Scotland are facing a nearly £500million deficit.
She said: “I have been working for months to highlight cases where people are stuck in hospital to Argyll & Bute HSCP. I have heard from residents – and their relatives – who are distressed because some of the most vulnerable people cannot be discharged from hospital as carers are not being provided.
“It is a truly dire situation affecting some of the most vulnerable people in our communities, as well as having a knock-on impact on the struggling NHS.
“Investing in social care has to be one of the top priorities of the new SNP government.”