Hospital patients shifted to nursing homes to free up beds

Nov 18 2008 by David Himelfield, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

“Intermediary care beds” will be set up on NHS and contracted premises.

Project director Gaynor Connor said: “When people have finished their treatment, rather than have them take up hospital beds we can move them into somewhere more suitable. The hospital is not a resting place.

“There is a lot of support in the area. We want to dispel the myth about hospitals being the best place. The services are already there. It’s a way of educating people.”

She said the move was not a cost-cutting measure.

“It is not financially motivated at all. Hospitals are great if you need hospital care, but once that has finished patients don’t need to be there and a hospital is not the best place for them.

“It’s not merely about discharging people. It’s about the transferral of care.”