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Embarrassing u-turn over new discharge system
The government has denied charges of a u-turn after cancelling plans for a catapult propulsion system for hospital beds at a cost of hundreds of millions of pounds.
The government had backed the system of “cats and traps”, which allows patients to be out of bed less than a second after discharge, saying that it would make more efficient use of beds and aid recovery times as patients would be back on their feet much sooner after a hospital stay.
It has confirmed that plans for the new system were to be scrapped in favour of conventional launch technology or “nurses” as they are sometimes called.
“Although the new launch system had considerable advantages over existing manual methods, deployment costs have risen a bit since our original estimates,” said a spokesman.
When the plans were first announced, the government said it would cost £17 per bed to fit the new system.
“That estimate has been adjusted in light of new information to just under £1m per bed, nudging the project just outside the financial viability envelope,” the spokesman added.
Critics pointed to the number of problems during trials when patients confused the launch console with the TV remote, propelling themselves from bed at near supersonic speeds.
Enid Punter, 82, said: “I was only trying to turn off Jeremy Kyle. The next thing I knew I was waking up in the hospital car park.”
Opposition MPs accused the government of high-tech grandstanding – a charge denied by health technology minister Simon Bigger. “It’s true that you get a really exciting ride in one of these beauties, but that had nothing to do with our original decision,” he said.
Bigger denied opposition claims of an embarrassing climbdown “except for those patients who regrettably found themselves lodged in trees or stranded on roofs on the other side of town”.
The cost of refitting beds already modified for the new “cats and traps” has been put at anything up to a quarter of a billion pounds, an estimate described by government sources as “exaggerated”. However, Bigger acknowledged that “there may be some exit costs, particularly for me”.
2. New improved U-Turn beds
;o)
3. discharge
4. Thank you.
5. Twang
Trevor - if they're travelling fast enough it's academic.
Paula, Sally - be careful what you wish for.
Nice weekends, folks.
1. Embarrassing U Turn could have been avoided
It's interesting to see that an alternative proposal, which would have completely offset the cost increase of almost £1m per bed, in the 'cats and traps' discharge scheme - by triggering the patient's release from the bed much earlier in their hospital admission (i.e.on waking from surgery)- was itself catapulted off the table without serious consideration by Bigger and his colleagues.