THERE is good news for patients at the Great Western Hospital as it was revealed over-night discharges are low compared to others in the country.

Last week, hospitals nation- wide came under fire over the thousands of patients being discharged overnight in order to free up beds.

Figures obtained from NHS Trusts showed that 239,233 patients were recorded as being sent home between 11pm and 6am last year.

Senior doctors and NHS officials say the number of problem cases will be far smaller than this, however, as the statistics include patients who want to go home as test results come back with the all clear – as well as women who have just given birth.

Some hospitals, including Derby NHS Trust, Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust in Birmingham, the Countess of Chester NHS trust and University Hospitals of Leicester said up to 8.7 per cent of their total discharges took place overnight.

However, at the GWH a Freedom of Information request revealed that on March 1 this year, just seven overnight of discharges took place, which equates to 3.3 per cent of all discharges, while on the same day in 2011, the figure stood at just two, or 1.1 per cent.

A spokesman for GWH said the figures on typical days were small as a proportion of overall discharges.

He said: “Only a small percentage of the total number of people who leave hospital in a typical day are discharged during the night as it is our policy to avoid discharging patients during the early hours.

“However, if a patient has been deemed medically fit by a doctor, wants to go home, and they have appropriate support arrangements in place, then we will discharge them.

“They are areas like maternity, for example, where new mothers may be keen to go home shortly after giving birth during the night.”

NHS medical director Sir Bruce Keogh has pledged to look into the figures to ensure patients are sent home only when it is ‘appropriate, safe and convenient’.

He said: “I am concerned to hear that some patients may be being discharged unnecessarily late.

“It is simply not fair to be sending people home late at night. We will look at this.”

The Swindon Local Involvement Network (LINk) would welcome comments on the issue.

Visit www.swindonlink.org.