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Best rates ever

In April, nobody waited longer than the target times to leave hospital.

The Council has heralded the April census figures for helping people get back into the community as its best ever.

The figures, which record how many people are waiting to leave hospital to go home or into care and support in community-based settings, showed there were no people waiting in April over the times set by the Government.

Two new national standards, introduced by the Scottish Government in April 2008, mean local authorities and health boards have to work to ensure that no patients are delayed in both short stays (over three days) in hospitals or over a longer six week period. On top of this a local target has been set for Edinburgh which means no more than 48 people should be waiting to leave hospital at any time.

This April in Edinburgh only 26 people were waiting.

Tremendous efforts have been made by a wide range of staff who have worked together well to ensure that timely discharges have taken place. This has resulted in the Council’s Health and Social Care department and NHS Lothian achieving the lowest figure ever recorded.

Several new services, and developments in others, have helped to get people back into the community. The transformation of homecare into an intensive service which helps people returning home from hospital regain confidence and independence, a new care home and additional funds to support more people with higher level needs at home, has helped deliver this extremely positive result.