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Welsh Government
Data Provider: Welsh Government Experimental Statistics Pathway of Care Delays by local health board provider and date

The data represent the number of adults occupying an NHS hospital bed, who were 'clinically optimised' ready to return home or move on to the next stage of care, that experienced a delay in their transfer of more than 48 hours beyond the point they were clinically optimised. 'Next stage of care' refers to all destinations outside of NHS hospitals. Data for local health board provider, relates to the local health board where the service was being provided and where the delay was experienced. This will include data from patients who reside from areas outside of the local health boards usual coverage. E.g. a service could be provided in the Cardiff and Vale health board, but the patient may reside in Bridgend (which is usually covered by Cwm Taf Morgannwg).

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[Collapse]Local authority of residence[Filtered]
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Local authority of residence 1[Filter]
[Collapse]Reason for delay[Filtered]
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[Collapse]Reason for delay 1[Filter]
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Reason for delay 2[Filter]
Measure1
[Collapse]Local health board provider[Filter]
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Local health board provider 1
Date[Filter]
[Collapse]WalesClick here to sortWales
Click here to sortBetsi Cadwaladr University Health BoardClick here to sortPowys Teaching Health BoardClick here to sortHywel Dda University Health BoardClick here to sortSwansea Bay University Health BoardClick here to sortCardiff and Vale University Health BoardClick here to sortCwm Taf Morgannwg University Health BoardClick here to sortAneurin Bevan University Health BoardClick here to sortVelindre
April 202332659278294247296250.The data item is not applicable1,750
May 20232906923025721723322731,526
June 20233436324725621625824111,625
July 20233436525621817625525521,570
August 20233406323819816030125111,552
September 20233546522223217329126011,598
October 20233396019221119128826821,551
November 202333552227205202282264.The data item is not applicable1,567
December 202332356190193149224226.The data item is not applicable1,361
January 20243625920721817326226611,548
February 20243245621223723833024021,639
March 20243477022024321133623221,661
April 202438861237262183341240.The data item is not applicable1,712
May 202434855249220179338237.The data item is not applicable1,626
June 202431559253225194362244.The data item is not applicable1,652
July 20243356420321917131323511,541
August 202433369194225174363261.The data item is not applicable1,619
September 202429759191258170359262.The data item is not applicable1,596
October 20243315420027016129723211,546
November 20242866320424615428323521,473

Metadata

Title

Pathway of Care Delays

Last update

19/12/2024 19/12/2024

Next update

23/01/2025

Publishing organisation

Welsh Government

Source 1

Pathways of Care Delays, NHS Delivery Unit

Contact email

stats.healthinfo@gov.wales

Designation

Experimental statistics

Lowest level of geographical disaggregation

Local authorities

Geographical coverage

Local health boards

Languages covered

English and Welsh

Data licensing

You may use and re-use this data free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government License - see http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence

General description

A delayed discharge occurs when a patient who is clinically ready for discharge cannot leave hospital because the necessary ongoing care and support or suitable accommodation for them is not yet accessible.
The data represent the number of adults occupying an NHS hospital bed, who were 'clinically optimised' ready to return home or move on to the next stage of care, that experienced a delay in their transfer of more than 48 hours beyond the point they were clinically optimised. 'Next stage of care' refers to all destinations outside of NHS hospitals.
The figures are a census snapshot of current delays being experienced on a specific day in each month across Wales. They do not reflect the total number of delays that occurred over the month.
The data are used to monitor the number of delays, and the reasons for delays, assisting NHS and Local Authority partners to develop regional plans with a focus on outcome based actions to reduce discharge delays across the health system.

Data collection and calculation

Data are provided by Local Health Boards and validated jointly with Local Authority partners.
The Pathway of Care Delays is a snapshot census that identifies people with a discharge delay and reason at a given point each month. Health Boards are required to extract the data from local systems on a census day in each month, and validate the delays with Local Authority partners. Subsequently, data records are entered via a web-based tool and submitted to NHS Wales.


Frequency of publication

Monthly

Data reference periods

April 2023 onwards

Revisions information

Data are subject to revision

Statistical quality

Data are provided by Local Health Boards and validated jointly with Local Authority partners.
The Pathway of Care Delays is a snapshot census that identifies people with a discharge delay and reason at a given point each month. Health Boards are required to extract the data from local systems on a census day in each month, and validate the delays with Local Authority partners. Subsequently, data records are entered via a web-based tool and submitted to NHS Wales.
At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Welsh Government suspended delayed transfers of care (DTOC) reporting requirements, along with many other datasets. The Welsh Government introduced the COVID-19 Discharge Requirements, which included an updated discharge process with increased focus on rehabilitation and reablement to improve patient flow and support better outcomes. From July 2020, delayed discharge data were collected as management information on a weekly basis. These data were not formally validated.
Subsequently a formal replacement, Pathways of Care Delays (POCD) has been developed and tested to replace DTOC. This system has now been rolled out across all Local Health Boards & Local Authorities and the first fully validated and quality assured data are available from april 2023.
Welsh Government discharge guidance (COVID-19 Discharge Requirements) sets out the default approach to hospital discharges – the Discharge to Recover then Assess (D2RA) pathways (or 'recovery pathways').
The D2RA approach is based on evidence of better outcomes for people who transfer as soon as possible to their usual residence or other suitable care setting for rehabilitation or reablement prior to assessments for longer term care. A D2RA pathway (or recovery pathway) could be in a person’s own home, in a community hospital or in an alternative step-down setting.


Keywords

Discharge Discharges