Vol. 470 No. 4
100 Mr. Callely asked the Minister for Health if his attention has been drawn to the pressure put on families by general hospital authorities to take their elderly relatives home when it is recognised that further care is required; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19126/96]
Limerick East): Acute hospitals are funded to provide acute hospital services for those patients who need them. Many patients, including elderly patients, may require acute hospital care initially but much of their recovery period could be spent in step down sub-acute accommodation. For a number of years now there has been a shortage of sub-acute beds, particularly in Dublin. This has caused problems in that acute hospitals have not been able to discharge patients in sufficient numbers and quickly enough, to cater for new patients who urgently need the services. This sometimes results in patients having to be placed on trolleys in accident and emergency departments.
When a patient is admitted to an acute hospital bed it is each acute hospital's policy to immediately instigate a planned care programme for the discharge of that patient to the appropriate care setting. The care plan decided upon is arrived at having taken into consideration the medical and social needs of the patient and could involve any of the following: discharge home to families; discharge home with community care support; discharge home with additional community care support, that is, community ward team; convalescent care; respite-intermittent care; welfare care; rehabilitation care; and long stay care.
