By Press Release
The financial costs of bed-blocking and a lack of Island care home places were exposed this week when the Isle of Wight Council disclosed that in six months it has spent almost two million pounds on mainland care placements.
Yesterday evening St Mary’s Hospital announced that it had once again declared a critical incident, the sixth in recent months.
Blaming a lack of ability to discharge people into social care settings or safely to home, the Island’s health services are on red alert again, with only life-threatening incidents or conditions being accepted into the Emergency Department.
The staggering costs of providing mainland care packages were revealed at a council Audit Committee meeting. The council can usually make more cost-effective arrangements, but due to the urgent needs, they have sent 21 Islanders to the mainland for care at a cost of £1.901,000 from April to September – more than £90,500 per person.
Cllr Karl Love, the council’s adult social care lead, predicted that the issues will get even worse, as lack of government funding had created a “perfect storm”. He explained that costs have spiralled as the NHS has been discharging people with ever more complex needs, especially since Shackleton Ward, St Mary’s specialist dementia ward closed in 2019.
Cllr Love added that the council had not been involved in the IW NHS Trust’s decision to transfer £10 million of a £48 million funding windfall to Portsmouth Hospital to provide 72 new beds there. He said: “I don’t know the detail of that decision, but I am generally very concerned about the relentless transfer of health services to the mainland.
“One example is the decision to build a new elective surgery hub in Winchester. To arrive there from the Island at a reasonable time you will need to leave home very early in the morning. It is ridiculous.
“We are supposed to have an integrated care system, but it is heavily dominated by healthcare professionals. Adult social care is an afterthought – the Cinderella service.”
The government has given the council new powers to raise council tax by 5 per cent next year, and Islanders are likely to face the full rise, as the council faces a massive black hole in its finances.
An Alliance spokesman said: “We await further information from Government before we can get a full understanding of our position.
“Our finance officer’s view is that we can create a legal and workable budget. The position is being driven by external factors. It is clear that things will not be easy and there is a lot of work to do to pull things together, but we are going into this with a positive attitude and the aim of minimising any potential adverse effects.”