Hundreds discharged from Great Western Hospital overnight

In 2012/13, some 1,745 people were discharged between 11pm and 6am. Last year that number was nearing the 3,000 mark - at 2,941.

The figures, released following a freedom of information request, provide a further alarming insight into the scale of the challenge facing hospital and healthcare staff as they battle to find enough beds, both in the community and on the wards.

While the hospital now sees more patients and is busier than it was four years ago, the total discharge rate has only gone up by 12 per cent whereas the overnight rate has risen by 69 per cent.

The figures include discharges from both in-patient wards and those attached to the emergency department where same-day discharges at odd hours are more routine.

Swindon’s only hospital is not alone in struggling to manage the flow of people in and out of its doors in challenging circumstances.

RUH in Bath has seen an even greater increase in its overnight discharge rate at 70 per cent during the same period.

However some hospitals are finding ways to cope - for instance in Salisbury, which has seen a 20 per cent fall in its numbers, with only 121 people being discharged during the night throughout the whole of 2015/16.

During his term as medical director of the NHS, Sir Bruce Keogh challenged hospitals to do more on the issue.

He suggested that the safety and convenience of the patient given the time of night should be weighed equally with the clinical justification for discharging.

Sir Bruce said it was “simply not fair to be sending people home late at night.”

A spokesman for GWH said: “Over the last four years the percentage of patients leaving hospital during the night has remained at around two per cent of all discharges.

“These numbers reflect the increasing numbers of people we’re caring for as we provide healthcare to a rapidly growing and ageing population.

“In 2015/16, 88,859 people were admitted into hospital, a 13 per cent increase compared with four years ago.

“Many of these patients will have been assessed, treated and discharged on the same day.

“We must ensure patients can leave hospital as soon as they are well enough and no longer need our care. This is reliant on the whole local health and care system working together, so that arrangements for further care and support can be made early on.

“Families, friends and carers can also help by being involved in discussions about care the patient will need after they leave hospital, being available to collect the patient when they’re well enough to leave and arranging help around the home.”

Nationally, the growing pressure on the adult social care sector has been blamed for many of the challenges that end up manifesting themselves in hospitals.

While the Government has taken some steps to allow local governments to access more funding, the Local Government Association and opposition parties have said the moves don’t go far enough.

Drawing a link between the social care crisis and overnight discharge rates, the Shadow Health Secretary, Jonathan Ashworth MP, blamed the underfunding of care across the country.

He said: “Six years of savage cuts to social care has left hospitals dangerously overcrowded and staff being left with little option but to send patients home at the middle of the night simply to free up beds.

“We were promised a crackdown on this type of behaviour four years ago, but the situation is getting worse.

“Ministers should urgently investigate this issue and take action to tackle the root causes, most notably the chronic underfunding of social care and the lack of care in the community.”