Shortage of nursing home beds 'having a direct impact on overcrowding in hospitals'

Ensuring there are an adequate number of nursing home beds available would go some way towards addressing the overcrowding issues at Cork University Hospital, the chief executive of Nursing Homes Ireland has said.

“There’s no one issue that will address the crisis happening across the country, but having nursing home beds available is a significant factor,” Tadhg Daly told The Echo, adding that it is “having a direct impact on overcrowding in hospitals.” 

There were 57 patients on trolleys at Cork University Hospital (CUH) yesterday, according to the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation, and more than 70 at one point earlier this week.

In the HSE’s Urgent and emergency care report, it notes that there were 31 delayed transfers of care at CUH yesterday.

A delayed transfer of care, formerly known as a delayed discharge is a patient who has been deemed clinically fit for discharge from an acute bed but whose discharge is delayed because they are waiting for some form of on-going support or care.

Mr Daly explained that up to 70% of these delayed discharges are people awaiting nursing home care. 

“There have been a significant amount of closures in Cork which is impacting the availability of beds in community settings, so we are quite concerned.

“We need to make sure there are no further closures, and we need to celebrate the fact that people are living longer, but plan services accordingly,” he added.

“As recent reports show, there was almost no new [nursing home] beds in Cork city and county.

“The most recent one we saw was in Carrigaline but when that fills up, and it will fill up soon, it will put pressure back on acute hospitals again.” Mr Daly said that a nursing home was often “the most appropriate place for a person to be if they are finished their acute care in hospital”.

“A nursing home would have appropriate social activities or rehab that they might not receive in an acute hospital setting, they don’t want to be in a hospital bed and they shouldn’t be.

“It’s a latent ageism about the care of older people, ultimately we have an ageing demographic, and we need to plan for it.

“I’m concerned that the government isn’t planning for it, there’s no overarching policy towards day care, at home living and nursing home care - we need to be ambitious and set out a vision for what that would look like.

“Members of Nursing Homes Ireland and the private and voluntary sector are constantly engaging to get the government to take the situation more seriously.”