Questions raised over care home spare beds while hospitals struggle to cope

Alliance councillor Noel Williams said that he will be writing to the Northern Health and Social Care Trust to seek clarity on what he believes is an apparent under-utilisation of residential care homes when acute hospitals are struggling for beds.

Setting out the scale of the crisis facing the health service in NI at a media briefing on Wednesday, chief medical officer Sir Michael McBride said he had serious concerns about the ability of the health service to get through the winter.

Health trust chief executives have set out new measures to tackle hospital pressures, including patients leaving hospital no later than 48 hours after they are medically fit for discharge, where a suitable placement is available.

The high number of patients who are deemed fit to be discharged but are not being progressed to their home environment or an appropriate care home, is a significant problem.

Cllr Williams said: “I recently met with staff from the Lisgarel Care Home regarding a surplus of available spaces at that unit.

“They explained that the status of several residential homes within the Northern Trust were changed to ‘contingency’ in November.

"This means that only through ‘senior management approval’ can that and other homes accept individuals who require rehab facilities or assessment.

“Taking Lisgarel as an example, the home has the capacity for 38 residents, but is currently operating with only 11 individuals. Despite this, the home is fully staffed by care workers on contracted rotas.”

At midnight on December 20, a total of 569 patients in hospitals had been declared medically fit to leave but were waiting on care packages.

The knock-on effect of this is that almost 400 patients in emergency departments on Monday morning – who had been assessed as requiring hospital admission – had no bed available.

Cllr Williams added: “It is extremely concerning that so many residential home spaces remain available and unfilled.

“I am increasingly worried about how widespread this problem could be across Mid and East Antrim and beyond, and have written to the Northern Trust to ascertain what, if anything, is being done to combat the issue.”

A spokesperson for the Northern Trust said: “The profile of the patients we look after in the community is changing, and many of our service users now require a higher level of support than we can provide in a residential home, with their needs being better met in a nursing home or community hospital.

“We will consider Mr Williams’ correspondence and respond in due course.”