Man with dementia inappropriately in hospital as family 'fails to co-operate with Fair Deal'

A man with dementia and "plenty of money" has been inappropriately placed in a community hospital for months, the HSE says.

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A man with dementia and "plenty of money" has been inappropriately placed in a community hospital for months with no co-operation from his family with efforts to secure a nursing home place under the Fair Deal scheme, the HSE has told the High Court.

Katherine Kelleher, solicitor for the HSE, said today she did not have to tell the court about the crisis the country is facing due to Covid-19.

The man has quite advanced dementia and has been quite inappropriately placed for months in the community hospital which is intended as part of a Covid-19 treatment outflow plan from a larger hospital in the area, she said.

She sought orders, on foot of medical evidence that, as a result of his dementia, the man lacks capacity to make decisions about his person and finances, to have him made a ward of court.

The general solicitor for wards of court, Patricia Hickey, had agreed to be appointed as the committee representing his interests, Ms Kelleher said.

She anticipated she would be seeking "in short order" to have the man moved to a nursing home as more appropriate for his care needs.

As of now, he is running up "significant debts" in hospital "when he does not need to be there".

'Plenty of money'

The man has been in the hospital for some six months and there had been no family co-operation with the Fair Deal scheme aimed at moving him to a more appropriate location, Ms Kelleher said.

A brief effort to move him to nursing home lasted only a few hours, she said.

Ms Kelleher said the man has "plenty of money". He has a house, land and financial assets and his son has a "very good" job but is not engaging with the HSE concerning Fair Deal and has "completely disconnected" from the matter.

The son may have his own challenges, she added.

Ms Hickey said, if the criteria set by her office for nursing home placements are met in this case, there was no need for the matter to come back to court to formally facilitate that transfer.