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A new care home of a significant size is “one of the single biggest things” that could help decrease hospital waiting times, according to the island's Medical Director, Dr Peter Rabey.
He said the unavailability of spaces in care homes has seen patients remain in hospital longer than necessary.
“We have lost an entire surgical ward to patients who really should be at home or in a nursing home, but we are unable to find them space,” said Dr Rabey.
Pictured: Dr Peter Rabey, the island's Medical Director.
An annual update on key performance indicators in secondary healthcare, which was released yesterday, showed that a range of services fell short of waiting time targets in 2021.
“The pandemic has been one reason for increased waiting times, but another is the shortage of residential homes and care homes resulting in patients in hospital who really don’t need to be there anymore,” said Dr Rabey.
“Our government is fully aware of this issue and are working on it, but meanwhile it is affecting [services].
“It would be lovely if Guernsey got another significantly-sized care home because there are patients who need that and that would be one of the single biggest things that could help us.
“The patients don’t want to be in hospital. They would rather be getting on with their lives somewhere more appropriate.”
Pictured: Dr Peter Rabey said that people should be in hospital only while hospital remains the most appropriate place for them.
Medical Specialist Group Chairman Dr Gary Harwood said that increased hygiene measures following the pandemic is another factor contributing to the challenge.
“We were very significantly affected by covid at the start of the year [2021] and by the summer we had the problem of the lack of care home beds causing patients remaining in hospital who are no longer acute hospital patients,” said Dr Yarwood.
“An incidental consequence of covid is that people have increased their cleanliness standards and are also not visiting relatives in care homes if they have cold symptoms.
“As a result, people are living longer in care homes. They are getting less infections because they are more isolated. This is...occurring in the UK as well.
“The shortage of places in care homes means that people are needing to be cared for in hospital and this has resulted in less available beds for patients who can only have an operation where a hospital stay is required.”
Pictured: Dr Gary Yarwood said that demographic changes in Guernsey will have to be met by growth in sectors which care for the ageing population profile.
Dr Yarwood said that increasing the availability of beds in care homes is the only option for an island with an ageing population.
“There will be an increase in the care home sector because there has to be,” he said.
“The demographic is changing and we are nowhere near peak numbers of the elderly.
“The over-65s are continuing to grow in number. By around 2035 or 2040, there will be at least half as many more over 65s as there are now, so there has to be a growth in that sector.”
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