900 hospital beds taken ‘for no medical reason’

ALMOST 900 people are taking up hospital beds even though there is no reason for them to be there, according to HSE figures.

A lack of nursing home, rehab and other community beds – and a lack of funding to move people into the community – means mainly elderly people are continuing to languish in hospital when there is no medical reason for them to be there.

According to Senator Brendan Ryan, indications are that funding to move people from hospital settings to nursing homes will not be made available until September under the Fair Deal nursing home scheme.

“I have been pursuing the case of an 89-year-old Balbriggan woman who is ready for release from Beaumont Hospital. Her family has identified an available public bed in Gormanstown, a couple of miles away,” he said.

“She cannot be released because no funding is available from the HSE. Unfortunately, she is not alone, as more than 100 older people are in a similar situation in Beaumont Hospital holding up beds in the system. I understand no one in similar circumstances has been released from Beaumont Hospital since 15 January, and this is July. This is a disgrace and something must be done about it. It is a false economy and cannot be allowed to continue,” he said.

He said the situation had a knock-on effect through out the hospital system.

Most recent HSE figures show that this year, delayed discharges continued to increase and at the end of April there were 893 people waiting to be moved into another type of care.

This compares to averages of 668 and 514 in the past two years.

According to official figures, delayed discharges increased from 25 to 76 in Tallaght, from 68 to 170 in the St James’s and from 66 to 110 at the Mater.

There are currently 122 people who have not been released from Beaumont. Many have been there since the start of the year.

A woman whose husband is in the Mater because of a lack of funding for a place at Hamilton Park care home said it was costing the HSE €900 a day to keep him in the Mater Hospital, but it was only €1,400 a week for a bed at the home.

“My husband has anacquired brain injury and was taken into the Mater because we could not cope with him at home anymore. There is a bed available for him at Hamilton Park but there is no funding available,” she said.

The woman said she was told funding for peopleunder 65 in long-term care had not been made available since April last year.

A spokesman for the HSE said it will this year provide 4,710 home care packages, helping over 11,500 people.

“With regard to provision of residential care for older people in 2007/8 a total of 306 additional public long-stay beds were made available to patients, €20m was provided in 2009, with a further 537 additional beds scheduled for 2009,” he said.

He said in early 2009, the HSE provided 245 additional contract beds to alleviate delayed discharges pressure on the acute system.