NHS trusts across the South West have begun discharging patients to hotels to free up hospital beds for those in need of acute care. In Bristol city centre, two floors of the Leonardo Hotel are currently being used for rehabilitation, including help with mobility and self-care to enable them to return home.
The care facility at the four-star Leonardo was introduced in late November 2022 and will be in operation until March 2023, accommodating up to 30 patients with an average length of stay expected to be three weeks. Inside the hotel, care is being delivered by live-in staff from the CQC-registered company Abicare on a 24/7 basis, with visiting clinical teams providing rehabilitation and primary care support
Other regions in the UK have previously employed hotels for patients that no longer need to be in hospital for treatment, but the practice is now being used by trusts across the southwest, including Bristol, Devon and Cornwall.
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A spokesperson for the Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire Integrated Care Board said: “Local health and care services are under significant pressure, and this temporary care facility delivered at a local hotel will help us to improve the ‘flow’ of patients through our hospitals by ensuring more people can be discharged as soon as they are medically fit to leave hospital.
“The service will operate until the end of March 2023 and will provide comprehensive care, in a welcoming environment, for people who don’t need to be in hospital, but require further support before they return home.
"Nobody should have to stay in hospital longer than necessary, and this facility will ensure more people can be discharged promptly. It will also improve the flow of patients through our hospitals while helping to address ambulance handover delays.”
Yesterday (January 5), the National Medical Director of NHS England told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “We have used hotels in the past. It’s one of a number of … things that we can use to improve discharge – clearly has to be appropriate, clearly, it has to be safe.”
Professor Sir Stephen Powis said that the hotels “will be one component, but probably a small component in particular areas of our overall policy to discharge” medically fit patients to help ease demand for hospital beds and reduce admission delays. He added that patients across the NHS are also being discharged in virtual wards at home with medical monitoring as well as into other facilities, including care homes.
However, Nadra Ahmed OBE, chair of the National Care Association (NCA), told the same programme she had concerns about using hotels to provide a high standard of care. She said, "This is a short-term solution - what we really need is a robust, sustainable and well-invested social care sector."
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