THE number of patients blocking hospital beds in Gwent rose from 52 in August, to 93 two months later.

And health chiefs will be looking to get the numbers down again, ahead of a winter period when freeing up hospital beds will be key to helping minimise difficulties with admissions.

The September figure is the highest since May(95) and comes after a summer of comparatively low numbers of what are officially called delayed transfers of care (DToCs).

Aneurin Bevan University Health Board has identified discharge procedures as a key element of its winter plan, and is employing more discharge co-ordinators in its acute and community hospitals to try to ensure that patients deemed fit to go home or back to their care home, can do so in a timely manner with the relevant support in place.

Of October’s delayed transfers, around half (46) were due to delays with either healthcare or community care assessments or with implementing the arrangements identified during the assessments.

These delays were a major contributor to the increase since August, when just 16 DToCs were attributed to these causes.

Clearing the backlog will be key to bringing the numbers down again, as will ensuring that arrangements are put in place as quickly as possible after assessments are completed.

The number of patients delayed due to issues with the selection of a care home more than doubled, from seven in August, to 18 in October.

Conversely, the number of patients delayed because they were waiting for a place to become available in the care home of their choice, almost halved in October (eight), compared to September (15).

Twenty-five patients from the Caerphilly area were classed as DToCs, with a further 25 from Torfaen, 24 from Newport, 13 from Monmouthshire, and six from Blaenau Gwent.