§ Mr. RuffleyTo ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what estimate he has made of the cost of delayed discharges to the NHS in(a) the Bury St. Edmunds constituency and (b) Suffolk in the last year for which figures are available; [104804]
(2) how much delayed discharge of patients cost the NHS (a) nationally, (b) in Suffolk West PCT and (c) in Central Suffolk PCT in the last year for which figures are available. [104834]
§ Jacqui SmithInformation is not available in precisely the form requested. In the last year for which figures are available, up to December 2002, there was an average of 5,233 delayed transfers of care of patients of all ages, on any single day, in England. However there are only figures available at a primary care trust level for the first three quarters of 2002–03, (April to December 2002) when the average number of patients delayed on any one day was 32 in Suffolk West PCT, and 18 in Central Suffolk PCT. On the same basis the average figure for all the PCTs in Suffolk was 130 per day.
On the basis of an average cost to the national health service of £100 per day, the broad estimate of the cost to the NHS where these patients have experienced delays in an acute hospital bed for this period is around £500,000 per day for England as a whole, £3,200 per day in Suffolk West PCT and £1,800 per day in Central Suffolk PCT. The estimate for all PCTs in Suffolk is £13,000 per day.