asked the Minister for Health what percentage of beds in general hospitals is made available for aged patients; if he is satisfied that there is a sufficient number of beds for geriatric patients; and the plans, if any, his Department have for the provision of more beds.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Geriatric Patient Beds.
2.
As regards the admission of adult patients suffering from acute conditions appropriate for treatment in a general hospital no distinction is usually made in the utilisation of available medical and surgical ward accommodation between adults in different age groupings. The question of a percentage of such beds being made available for aged patients does not therefore arise. If what the Deputy has in mind is the percentage of general hospital beds actually occupied by aged patients at a particular time I would refer him to the Dublin General Hospital and Geriatric Study by Bourke and Coughlan, published by the Medical Research Council in 1966, and to the care of the aged report published in 1968.
In relation to institutional care the report on the care of the aged recommended that provision for the aged should be made in four main types of accommodation:
(a) General hospitals (acutely ill patients);
(b) geriatric assessment and rehabilitation units (to determine the needs of the patient) (usually associated with general hospitals);
(c) long-stay units (chronic illness);
(d) welfare homes (frail, ambulant patients).
The policy recommended to health boards is to step up the assessment and rehabilitation facilities and the provision of welfare homes for the ambulant aged who are not able, even with assistance, to fend for themselves in the community, but above all to develop community services through social service councils. The provision of 35 welfare homes for the aged over a period of three years should relieve the burden imposed upon general hospitals and homes for the chronic sick in relation to the demand for geriatric beds. Many of the proposals in the Report on the Care of the Aged are being implemented.
The Minister said that no distinction is usually made on the basis of age but he will agree that persons in the old age group do not have facilities provided for their admission to hospital for acute illness. In the light of that, would he make an inquiry to see what percentage of beds occupied for acute illness have patients in this age group? Could he recommend that the hospitals cooperate in the provision of beds for geriatric patients who become acutely ill?
I think the Deputy should read the report by Bourke and Coughlan which would give him a picture of the situation.
I am talking of the present position in which people over 65 years cannot get a bed in hospital when they are acutely ill.