DESPITE a national bid to clear bedblockers from the Isle of Wight's only hospital, numbers have got even higher.

Bedblockers are patients in hospital who are medically fit to leave but, with no care in the community in place to look after them, have nowhere to go.

Following orders from NHS England, St Mary's Hospital in Newport was given a target to clear up to 50 per cent of bedblockers, in Operation Reset, ahead of a potential surge in Omicron cases in January.

At the time of the action, bedblockers were taking up to 30 per cent of the beds in St Mary's, leading to elective surgery cancellations and an increase in wait times for A&E patients.

On January 13, the Isle of Wight NHS Trust said there were 62 patients who could leave but did not have care in place to do so but in a recent update last week, after the action, 72 were waiting.

Concerns were raised by the trust in January about finding space in the care sector to house the extra patients, due to a lack of staffing.

The interim head of adult social care at the Isle of Wight Council, Laura Gaudion, said the problem was not a reduction in capacity but an increase in demand.

Speaking at the council's health and social care scrutiny committee on Monday, Ms Gaudion said: "When people have more complex needs, the support they need when they leave hospital is higher and we need to reflect that in the support we have available to people."

The joint action between the trust, council and NHS Hampshire, Southampton and Isle of Wight Clinical Commissioning Group was praised by health bosses at the meeting for working together, finding beds and solutions to the care issues.

Ms Gaudion said it had enabled them to identify quick wins to deliver better services for local people as they leave hospital, without pointing the finger and blaming others.