Testing the bed-blocking hypothesis: does nursing and care home supply reduce delayed hospital discharges?

James Michael Gaughan; Hugh Stanley Emrys Gravelle; Luigi Siciliani

doi:10.1002/hec.3150

Testing the bed-blocking hypothesis: does nursing and care home supply reduce delayed hospital discharges?

James Michael Gaughan, Hugh Stanley Emrys Gravelle, Luigi Siciliani

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

Hospital bed-blocking occurs when hospital patients are ready to be discharged to a nursing home, but no place is available,
so that hospital care acts as a more costly substitute for long-term care. We investigate the extent to which greater supply of
nursing home beds or lower prices can reduce hospital bed-blocking using a new Local Authority (LA) level administrative
data from England on hospital delayed discharges in 2009–2013. The results suggest that delayed discharges respond to the
availability of care home beds, but the effect is modest: an increase in care home beds by 10% (250 additional beds per LA)
would reduce social care delayed discharges by about 6–9%. We also find strong evidence of spillover effects across LAs:
more care home beds or fewer patients aged over 65 years in nearby LAs are associated with fewer delayed discharges.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	32-44
Number of pages	13
Journal	Health Economics
Volume	24
Issue number	(suppl 1)
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1002/hec.3150
Publication status	Published - Mar 2015

Keywords

delayed discharges; long-term care; nursing and care homes; bed blocking; substitution

Access to Document

10.1002/hec.3150

DoH PRP PRU: ESHCRU - Economics of Health and Social Care Systems
Mason, A. R., Goddard, M. K., Gravelle, H. S. E., Jacobs, R., Rice, N., Siciliani, L. & Street, A. D.
1/01/10 → 30/06/19
Project: Research project (funded) › Research

Cite this

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title = "Testing the bed-blocking hypothesis: does nursing and care home supply reduce delayed hospital discharges?",

abstract = "Hospital bed-blocking occurs when hospital patients are ready to be discharged to a nursing home, but no place is available,so that hospital care acts as a more costly substitute for long-term care. We investigate the extent to which greater supply ofnursing home beds or lower prices can reduce hospital bed-blocking using a new Local Authority (LA) level administrativedata from England on hospital delayed discharges in 2009–2013. The results suggest that delayed discharges respond to theavailability of care home beds, but the effect is modest: an increase in care home beds by 10% (250 additional beds per LA)would reduce social care delayed discharges by about 6–9%. We also find strong evidence of spillover effects across LAs:more care home beds or fewer patients aged over 65 years in nearby LAs are associated with fewer delayed discharges.",

keywords = "delayed discharges; long-term care; nursing and care homes; bed blocking; substitution",

author = "Gaughan, {James Michael} and Gravelle, {Hugh Stanley Emrys} and Luigi Siciliani",

year = "2015",

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doi = "10.1002/hec.3150",

language = "English",

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pages = "32--44",

journal = "Health Economics",

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T2 - does nursing and care home supply reduce delayed hospital discharges?

AU - Gaughan, James Michael

AU - Gravelle, Hugh Stanley Emrys

AU - Siciliani, Luigi

PY - 2015/3

Y1 - 2015/3

N2 - Hospital bed-blocking occurs when hospital patients are ready to be discharged to a nursing home, but no place is available,so that hospital care acts as a more costly substitute for long-term care. We investigate the extent to which greater supply ofnursing home beds or lower prices can reduce hospital bed-blocking using a new Local Authority (LA) level administrativedata from England on hospital delayed discharges in 2009–2013. The results suggest that delayed discharges respond to theavailability of care home beds, but the effect is modest: an increase in care home beds by 10% (250 additional beds per LA)would reduce social care delayed discharges by about 6–9%. We also find strong evidence of spillover effects across LAs:more care home beds or fewer patients aged over 65 years in nearby LAs are associated with fewer delayed discharges.

AB - Hospital bed-blocking occurs when hospital patients are ready to be discharged to a nursing home, but no place is available,so that hospital care acts as a more costly substitute for long-term care. We investigate the extent to which greater supply ofnursing home beds or lower prices can reduce hospital bed-blocking using a new Local Authority (LA) level administrativedata from England on hospital delayed discharges in 2009–2013. The results suggest that delayed discharges respond to theavailability of care home beds, but the effect is modest: an increase in care home beds by 10% (250 additional beds per LA)would reduce social care delayed discharges by about 6–9%. We also find strong evidence of spillover effects across LAs:more care home beds or fewer patients aged over 65 years in nearby LAs are associated with fewer delayed discharges.

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U2 - 10.1002/hec.3150

DO - 10.1002/hec.3150

M3 - Article

SN - 1057-9230

VL - 24

SP - 32

EP - 44

JO - Health Economics

JF - Health Economics

IS - (suppl 1)

ER -

Testing the bed-blocking hypothesis: does nursing and care home supply reduce delayed hospital discharges?

Abstract

Keywords

Access to Document

Projects

DoH PRP PRU: ESHCRU - Economics of Health and Social Care Systems

Cite this