Herts County Council, like other councils, reviews its performance against key indicators every quarter.
Rather randomly some points are mentioned below:-
Bed Blocking
After a peak last year its good to see that there has been a reduction in . This means “bed blocking” where the county social services have not prepared a Care Package in time and so the patient has to remain in hospital.
However in 44% of the cases West Herts Hospital Trust itself had contributed to the delay. Other reasons for the delays were:
* lack of homecare availability (51%)
* lack of nursing care (22%)
* lack of residential care (17%)
The county is trying to recruit more Care Package Assessors.
Independent Foster Placements
Both nationally and in hertfordshire there is a shortage of foster carers, especially for children with complex behaviour. The biggest shortage is for foster parents able to look after teenagers with challenging and complex behaviour.
General Health Issues
Highway Accidents
Bad news – despite a national fall in “Killed or Seriously Injured” (KSA) road accidents, the number in Herts has by 4% to 483. Also the number of children in the KSA total has increased – to 49.
This seems to add to the popular perception that people “seem to be driving faster these days”. Could you drive just a bit slower?