High price of keeping elderly in wrong beds

I REFER to the announcement last week by the Minister for Health that some money was being made available to fund the transfer of elderly patients from hospitals to nursing homes.

It was reported that the Eastern Region Health Authority (ERHA) had instructed hospitals to confine elderly patients currently occupying beds to a section of the hospital in order to reduce the cost of caring for them.

These patients, from a medical viewpoint, are capable of being discharged, but because the ERHA has not made suitable plans for their ongoing care they are forced to stay in hospital.