HOSPITAL bosses are exploring ways of reducing the amount of time patients in Gwent wait for assessments of their rehabilitation and care needs so they can be discharged as soon as possible after being declared medically fit.

With the numbers of bedblockers in the area's hospitals falling steadily during the past year, consideration is now being given to how assessments by staff such as therapists and social workers can be speeded up.

"If a patient is waiting for an assessment, they are classified as being appropriately placed in a hospital bed," said Gwent Healthcare Trust chief executive Martin Turner.

"There may be big gains to be made by trying to improve the way in which assessments are organised."

Allan Davies, the trust's head of performance, said it can be several days before a patient is seen by a social worker or occupational therapist and there can be waits between such assessments.

On the bedblocking front, the number of patients classed as blockers, or delayed transfers of care, was down to 95 across Gwent's hospitals in April, compared to 227 in the same month last year, a fall of 58 per cent.

This is well within the reduction target set by the Assembly but trust bosses have spotted some worrying trends.

Half of current bedblocking cases are caused by what are termed patient, family or carer reasons, notably of cases where patients remain in hospital while waiting for a place in the care home of their choice.

Patient, family or carer category cases have doubled in the past two years, with the first-choice care home issue intensifying in recent months.

Mr Turner said some of the problems are down to where the responsibility lies in making decisions over what should happen to patients but even if a conclusion is reached over which care home they should go to, often that leads to other problems.

"We may solve the issue of choice but then a patient may switch categories, for instance to one where the delay is due to social care reasons because there is no money to fund a care home place," he said.