Colm Burke (Cork North Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

There is still a problem when an older person ends up in an accident and emergency department for different reasons. All of us, including the Minister of State, have been contacted by people who have an elderly family member who has spent 48 hours or more in an accident and emergency and still not been assigned a bed in a ward. It is very distressing for the elderly person involved but also for their families. Can more be done within the hospital structure to try to fast-track older people and get them into the appropriate accommodation so that their health condition does not deteriorate?

I also welcome what is being done with regard to nursing homes, where a nursing home is putting pressure for someone to be admitted to hospital, and we have teams that will call to the hospital to do the assessment and give the advice. I wonder if, within the hospital structure itself, we need to do a little bit more with regard to dealing with elderly people when they are admitted.

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