Elderly Cornish patients 'placed in care homes miles away from home' after leaving hospital

Concerns have been raised about elderly people being discharged from hospital in Cornwall and placed in care homes miles from their homes.

A meeting of NHS Kernow's governing body on Tuesday heard that some people had been placed in care homes which are more than an hour's drive from their homes.

Dr Judy Duckworth, GP member of the governing body, said that she knew of patients in West Cornwall who have been transferred to care homes in Torpoint and Callington.

Helen Charlesworth-May, chief officer for NHS Kernow, said that placements had been made to help create capacity in hospitals as they cope with an influx of patients with Covid-19.

She said that “options around choice have been set aside as part of the response to the pandemic”.

Mrs Charlesworth-May said that an approach was being taken where it was preferable for people to return home when discharged from hospital, but said that when they did need additional care then they would be placed in homes which have spaces.

She said that there was still a lot of work to be done to "catch-up" from the first stage of the pandemic "as much as the current stage of the pandemic".

Mrs Charlesworth-May said that those in care homes were having to wait for social care assessments so that they could return home.

She said: "It is my hope and expectation that as many people as possible go home.

"We do not wish to see people stay in care beds any longer than necessary, it is not in their best interests and not in the best interests of how we manage our services in the future".

Mrs Charlesworth-May said that Cornwall Council and NHS Kernow had managed to increase the number of carers helping people at home by 25% since March.

And she said that the voluntary sector was now “supporting in excess of 1,000 more people that it was supporting last year”.

However she said that the extra demand created by the pandemic had had a "significant impact on our ability to respond as we would normally do so or would choose to do so".

But Mrs Charlesworth-May said that this was not a problem unique to Cornwall and was an issue being reported nationally.

Dr Duckworth said that she was concerned that visiting restrictions were already making it difficult for people to see their loved ones in care homes and that placing them in homes an hour or two hours from their homes made that harder.

She said she had also encountered some patients who had been discharged to care homes as a short term measure but were still there 10 to 12 months later.

Mrs Charlesworth-May acknowledged that there was a need to try and get more people back to their homes and said that this was particularly needed as care homes in Cornwall are currently operating at 96% occupancy.