There is a need to provide a rehabilitation assessment unit to meet the needs of the elderly population of Laois-Offaly at St. Vincent's hospital in Mountmellick.
St. Vincent's hospital serves a population base of 28,796 – 14,614 males and 14,162 females. There are 3,266 people over 65 years of age, 725 of whom are single and 1,123 people who are widowed. This population mainly uses the general hospitals at Tullamore and Portlaoise for acute care needs.
Based on a recent survey of admissions to the general hospitals at Portlaoise and Tullamore, the following admissions were made from the Mountmellick catchment area over a 20 day period in January 1999: 11 persons per week, one from St. Vincent's hospital in Mountmellick, were admitted to Portlaoise and five per week, again with one person from St. Vincent's, were admitted to Tullamore. The most important statistic is that 50 per cent of the admissions were of people who were over 65 years of age. Of those admitted, on average one person per week was admitted from St. Vincent's hospital, Mountmellick to both Portlaoise and Tullamore general hospitals, mainly patients who due to their physical condition or lack of family support remain in the acute hospitals to rehabilitate before discharge, occupying beds needed by acutely ill patients.
On many occasions patients had to be discharged early to free up beds when they may have benefited from additional rehabilitation to return more rapidly to normal living. Those admitted from St. Vincent's hospital Mountmellick eventually returned to this care centre for older people following rehabilitation and discharge.
A rehabilitation assessment unit for Laois-Offaly would relieve the pressure on the acute beds in the general hospitals in Tullamore and Portlaoise. It would also help to relieve the demand for beds for the elderly in hospitals for the elderly at Mountmellick and Abbeyleix.
A rehabilitation assessment unit for Laois-Offaly in Mountmellick is required to meet the needs of the elderly population. It would provide for proper assessment of the patients' needs to live independently after acute illness and post surgery. Post hip operation patients, for example, require intensive physiotherapy and occupational surgery and nursing rehabilitation.
St. Vincent's hospital in Mountmellick has built a reputation for itself over the years as an excellent centre for care of the elderly people in the Laois-Offaly area. The hospital currently has 171 beds, including ten independent living units. The average age of patients there is 81 years. The hospital is ideally suited for the location of a rehabilitation assessment unit. As well as an excellent professional staff, the hospital has an active social and patient support group.
A rehabilitation assessment unit is now urgently required to meet the needs of the elderly population to assure them about their quality of life and to add life to years as well as years to life. I urge the Minister to respond positively and grant the necessary funding for such a unit for the Laois-Offaly area.
