Hospital to charge county council for bed-blocking

The Royal Berkshire Hospital is to charge Oxfordshire County Council £10,000 amid claims that the local authority is not doing enough to prevent “bed blocking”, according to a report by the BBC.

The hospital has suggested that some patients are having to remain on wards because of a lack of care provision.

The BBC said Royal Berkshire’s chief executive, Ed Donald, had confirmed the charges in a report. They will be backdated to April.

John Jackson, Oxfordshire’s director for social and community services, called for a new approach.

He told the BBC: “That is about stopping people going into hospital who don’t need to go in and actually getting people out very quickly from hospital.”