Ms Richelle Flanagan:

I know Parkinson's disease best. The average length of stay in CHO 9 is 25 days. It is second after CHOs 6 and 7, which are the two most deprived areas. Speaking to my data experience, I was talking to someone in St. James' Hospital with regard to a malnutrition survey that was done. It showed that malnutrition among those aged 70 and over has risen from 31% to 39% and the average length of stay is actually 46 days. That all can be managed in the community to stop those older people ending up in hospital. That is in general, not just neurology. There will be an even worse impact with people who have neurological conditions. Imagine how people feel at the end of having the flu for two weeks after being in bed for that time. They find it hard to walk and think and their world becomes smaller and they feel anxious to get back out in the world. Imagine putting that onto a 70-year-old who has problems walking and is not given his or her medication on time; the bed stay gets worse and that person will go out of the hospital worse than he or she went in because there is no access to neurological rehabilitation teams in the hospital. They are then discharged back into services that are not there for them. It is just this complete circle.