Elderly in nursing homes awaiting transfer to facilities closer to family

Nearly 40 elderly people in Cork public nursing homes are waiting to be transferred to another closer to home, the HSE has said.

It comes as an advocate for the elderly has said people are being put in nursing homes far from their families and told they are temporary, including a 95-year-old woman who has only seen her husband twice in the last year.

A HSE spokesperson told The Echo: “At present, there are 39 people living in either a private or public nursing home who are on waiting lists to transfer to an HSE community nursing unit or hospital closer to their preferred location.” 

When a bed is not available in a person's preferred nursing home, they can choose to go on that unit's waiting list and accept an interim placement elsewhere, and people may place their names on multiple waiting lists across different facilities.

Private nursing homes manage their own admissions processes and waiting lists, so no HSE data is available on these centres.

“In practice, when a vacancy becomes available in a public nursing home and a placement is offered, it is not uncommon for the offer to be declined,” the spokesperson said.

“Often, residents have settled into their current surroundings and no longer wish to move. In other cases, a person may decline an offer if, for example, they have a preference for a single room and the available accommodation is in a shared room.” 

The spokesperson added that the HSE is working on increasing public nursing home capacity to provide greater choice for older people across the region.

A HSE spokesperson previously told The Echo that “there is unfortunately a well-recognised shortage of public nursing homes beds in the Cork city area”.

Cork advocate for the elderly, Paddy O’Brien, said it was “heartbreaking” listening to stories of people affected.

“People were told they would be living in towns like Fermoy, Mallow, Clonakilty, Bandon and Kinsale on a temporary basis but now they fear it is permanent.

“Large numbers of elderly people experience loneliness and sadness on a daily basis because they have been moved away to a nursing home in towns they’ve never been to before,” he said.

Mr O’Brien said that often, their elderly spouses cannot make the journey down to visit them.

“They get excellent care in these nursing homes, but they miss their family continuously. There are husbands and wives separated and lots of them can’t cope with the separation, couples want to remain together in their final years.”

He said he had spoken to a lady who was 95 years old and has seen her husband only twice in the 12 months since he was moved to a nursing home 25 miles away, and they were told it was temporary.

Mr O'Brien added that the HSE should have planned better by opening more nursing home beds in line with projected population increases. "They knew this was coming, and nothing was done to prepare for it," he added.