A spokeswoman for the Eastern Regional Health Authority has rejected as "simplistic" the suggestion that all patients fit for discharge from acute hospitals could be transferred to vacant beds in private nursing homes.
It had been suggested that the current crisis in A&E departments could be alleviated if patients who no longer required acute care were transferred to nursing homes. The number of such patients in the eastern region varies day by day but is currently estimated at about 400.
The ERHA says that many of these patients are not suitable for private nursing home care. The spokeswoman said over 20 per cent require the type of high level care or rehabilitation only available in public facilities, some are awaiting hospice care, while about 10 per cent have been approved for private nursing home funding but are awaiting vacancies in their chosen nursing homes.
Some patients also wish to return home and are awaiting funding for the completion of necessary adaptations to their living space.
The ERHA estimates that about 10 per cent of such patients are ineligible for subvention payments but they or their families are unwilling to fund private nursing home care. A small number are subject to ward of court proceedings and cannot be transferred from the acute hospital without court approval.
The ERHA began subventing private nursing home care in September 2003. In the last 12 months over 500 people have been transferred from acute hospitals in the eastern region into either private nursing homes or to their own homes with packages of home care provided by the Area Health Boards.
The maximum subvention paid to patients in private nursing home in the eastern region is €680 per week and it is expected the three Area Health Boards will commit over €75million to subvention this year.