A HEALTH watchdog is trying to tackle the ongoing problem of bed-blocking in the county’s hospitals.

Healthwatch Oxfordshire has recruited 24 volunteers to interview more than 100 patients and carers about their experience of being discharged from hospital.

And the organisation is urging members of the public across the county to take part in the study by completing a survey online or joining a focus group.

Oxford University Hospitals Trust (OUHT) has one of the most serious bed-blocking problems in the country with the latest figures showing there were 183 patients taking up beds when they were fit to leave in the week of February 4.

Rachel Coney, chief executive of Healthwatch Oxfordshire, said: “We know hospital discharge in Oxfordshire has been a constant source of aggravation for many, many years. We don’t get it right, we are not very good at it, so we thought it was a really good topic for us to use our Enter and View responsibilities.”

Our top stories

These powers allow authorised representatives of Healthwatch Oxfordshire to go into health and social care premises to talk to patients about a particular subject.

The organisation is launching the project today (Wednesday February 25) with volunteers talking to patients at Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre.

Ms Coney said: “Our volunteers have been through training and from February 25 we will be arranging for them to go to community hospitals, acute hospitals and care homes to talk to people or carry out phone interviews or go to their own homes to go through the questionnaire.

“It asks questions like when the first estimated date of discharge was discussed with you, were plans discussed about discharge, how many times was it changed and if it was explained, why?”

Ms Coney believes part of the problem could be a breakdown in communication and she also plans to talk to GPs, pharmacists and care homes about the problem.

Volunteer Victoria Pocock believes the project will be valuable.

She said: “For us, it’s just trying to get people’s experiences, good and bad.

“It’s to find out from the patients and their carers what has worked and what hasn’t worked so well.”

Healthwatch Oxfordshire project manager Mark Stone has motor neurone disease and has his own experiences of the health service.

Wheelchair-bound Mr Stone was forced to wait more than six hours for transport to take him home from hospital on one occasion.

He said: “It’s something I feel really enthusiastic and very passionate about. We’ve known for years hospital discharge has been a problem and for years Oxfordshire has been bumping along the bottom of the league tables.

“This is a real opportunity to get the patients’ views.”

The survey can be completed until Monday, April 13 and the organisation plans to publish the results with recommendations in July.

Anyone with experience of hospital discharge who would like to take part in the project can visit:

* www.healthwatchoxfordshire.co.uk and complete the short form
* Email: hello@healthwatchoxfordshire.co.uk
* Telephone: (01865) 520520
* Write to: Healthwatch Oxfordshire, Suite 2, Whichford House, John Smith Drive, Oxford Business Park South, Oxford, OX4 2JY
* Contact via Twitter or Facebook on: @healthwatchoxon or Healthwatch Oxfordshire