A MOVE to stop frail and elderly patients from being 'bundled up in blankets' and sent home in sub-zero temperatures has been launched by hospital bosses.

Those at the helm of Barrow's Furness General Hospital are now pledging to ensure at least 50 per cent of all those ready to leave do so in daylight hours as part of a scheme to help keep them safe.

People being sent home from hospital during the dark winter months is one of the biggest causes of patient complaints, they confirmed.

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Speaking at a board meeting this week, Jackie Daniel, chief executive of the University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Trust, said the practice had to change.

"We want people to be discharged during daylight hours and preferably before lunchtime to give patients a better experience," she said.

"We get an awful lot of complaints from elderly and frail people about being bundled off and wrapped in blankets in minus two degrees in the dark.

"I want that to change so people go home much earlier in the day."

Statistics from the trust show less than 10 per cent of patients are sent home from hospital before 11am.

Some 55 per cent leave after 4pm.

It is thought delays waiting for prescribed medication to arrive or for a social care package to begin at 5pm are the largest contributory factors behind later discharges.

It is hoped reversing the pattern will also free up beds for new patients, preventing a backlog of people waiting to be admitted in accident and emergency.

However, some patients may have to leave later, Mrs Daniel said, depending on their condition or time of surgery.

She added: "The thought of these patients returning home when it’s dark and considerably colder fills me with dread and it has to stop.

"There are many reasons why this happens, such as prescribing delays with medication, test results, transport delays and so on, but the executive team and I have pledged to do all we can to improve this position."

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