HIRING more social care workers could help stop bed blocking in Oxfordshire, but high costs of living are putting them off living here.

Oxfordshire is the second-worst county in England for bed blocking in the 2019/20 financial year, according to a report discussed by the county council's Performance Scrutiny Committee yesterday.

The report said Oxfordshire is currently ranked 147 out of 149 areas in the country for delayed transfer of care, which is also known as bed blocking.

Councillors on the committee discussed what steps could be taken to improve Oxfordshire's record on bed blocking, which can cause health issues for patients stuck in hospital, especially the elderly.

A range of issues have left people stuck in hospitals around the county.

But more than half of them in 2019/20 are there because there are not enough social care staff available to care for them at home.

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In the latest data released by NHS England for November 2019, there were 1,862 delays in Oxfordshire hospital beds because patients were waiting for home care, out of a total of 3,170 delays.

Stephen Chandler, the council's recently appointed director for adult services, told the committee that Oxfordshire paid one of the highest hourly rates in England to outside companies it brought in to provide adult social are.

The council currently pays £23 an hour to social care companies for every member of staff working.

Despite this high rate, there are issues with recruiting enough staff in the care sector.

Committee chair Liz Brighouse said the high cost of living in Oxfordshire contributed to the problem.

The committee hear that not all of the £23 paid to care companies goes directly to the care worker.

Mr Chandler added the council was looking at ways it could renegotiate contracts with the care companies to 'provide transparency' about how the £23 an hour was spent, including how much actually went to staff.

Other problems which have contributed to bed blocking discussed during the committee meeting include reablement.

This is a kind of healthcare where people who have a disability or injury are helped to recover so they can do daily tasks.

The services is provided by two different NHS teams, split roughly along the east and west of the county.

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The report to council said there was now a plan in place for the reablement service, which could help it meet targets.

Getting people out of Oxfordshire's hospital beds is not the sole responsibility of the county council: it is shared with the public bodies which manage the health service in the county.

These are the Oxfordshire Clinical Commissioning Group and the Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust.

At the end of the meeting, Ms Brighouse added it was important to remember the people who carried out social care work.

She said: "The people who are the backbone of all this are earning very little money and are actually going out of their way to make the lives of the people they care for better."

The committee was asked to note the report presented to them.

"We must not forget that and we must make sure that at the front of any contract we have, they are secure."