Patients not accepted home after their release from hospital
Between 50 and 80 patients are being kept in hospital every day because their relatives are not accepting them back, Health Minister Joseph Cassar said during question time in Parliament this evening.
He said the problem of hospital overcrowding and patients waiting for beds was among the most pressing and complex problems being faced at Mater Dei Hospital.
This was a problem related to the service being provided at health centres and general practitioners, Dr Cassar said. But another aspect of the problem was how every day there were between 50 and 80 patients at Mater Dei who would have been discharged by the consultants but who were not accepted at home by their families.
The hospital's policy was to respect the dignity of the patients and such people were not sent home when they were not accepted, Dr Cassar said.
Prof Anthony Zammit (PL) asked whether there was dignity when patients were kept in corridors without privacy even for their basic needs, when dying patients were placed near other patients, or when patients suffering fevers were placed in the same room as other suffering infection.
Dr Cassar replied that that was not patient dignity.
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29 Comments
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Steve Camilleri
Oct 4th 2011, 23:05
So a man who treated his dog in an irresponsible manner got 9month jail and 20,000eu fine. how much do the people who do not accept their own family member back out of negligence deserve?
Lets be consistent from now on ;) look into things analyze and take proper action where it is needed.
@A Camilleri
"i dont really believe this, a family member of mine was still unwell (not elderly) and Mater Dei still discharged him, who we lost a few hours later in that same day...... Maybe you should just have a supervision ward! Families would be scared and they wouldnt know what to do. try help them too before stating that they dont want their family members back... look into why!"
I'm glad you speak out and I hope people who passed from similar horrible episodes speak too. Do not stop here because this is just a comment section that can easily be read and ignored.
S. Briffa
Oct 4th 2011, 20:03
This is really disgraceful and so sad!!! Are we loosing all compassion, how can anyone just leave their own flesh and blood in hospital!!! There is no excuse and this used to happen as well in the old hospital too and please do not put or place the elderly as a problem they are not!!!
If one really cares one do something for their own mother or father, we shared between us to take care of our father wheelchair bound, no way we were leaving him in hospital!!! With excuses nothing ever has been built which is stable!!!
Mr Carmelo Aquilina
Oct 4th 2011, 10:27
Whose rights are we respecting ? The abusive families who often take over property and possessions or people who have been turfed out of their home ? Often there is a threat to these old people that they will no longer see their children/ grandchildren if they insist. This is clearly abuse of older people and there needs to be a national response to this disgrace.
Julie Russell
Oct 4th 2011, 08:28
Put yourself in their shoes, i would take care of my mother if she was released from hospital, she was always there for me when i needed help and she was always there at my home when i was released from hospital. What a shame. I wouldn't want to leave my fortune or what little i have to my family if they had that attitude. It's very difficult looking after an elderly person, especially if they are ill, but we should always prepare ourselves and find a way to help them.
Tony Zammit
Oct 4th 2011, 06:42
Withhold their disable allowance/pension then you see them home… this is not a hostel
Mr carlos ellul
Oct 4th 2011, 06:18
If the government wants everyone to work (both the male and female partner) so that he'll can afford his salary increases then he's got to take care of the elderly. You can't possibly pretend a couple who work 40hrs a week to take care of a bed ridden person.
Its unfortunate since our hospital can always be used to gain political mileage. There again, that's what happen when you build a hospital with less beds then the previous one despite knowing that the population is ageing.
A Camilleri
Oct 4th 2011, 04:02
i dont really believe this, a family member of mine was still unwell (not elderly) and Mater Dei still discharged him, who we lost a few hours later in that same day...... Maybe you should just have a supervision ward! Families would be scared and they wouldnt know what to do. try help them too before stating that they dont want their family members back... look into why!
Victor Vella
Oct 3rd 2011, 23:57
And if the Goverment forces the relaticves to accept the old people back they woul dbe maltreated, build more residences and withold the pension, give the old folk coupons as pocket money and make it a criminal offence to have coupons which you cant explain how you got them legally.
Mr Alfred Cassar
Oct 3rd 2011, 21:21
When it comes to taking care of their sick parents some people just do not care and dont bother to dump them in a hospital and perhaps visit them once a month ... perhaps. When it comes to sharing the inheritance then it's another story, they find time to go here and there to get their share or more.
At least they should find a decent old people's home for their parents to spend their last days decently.
Shame on them
Andy Farrugia
Oct 3rd 2011, 21:07
So, a parliamentary question about overcrowding in hospitals which the Minister, very conveniently, answered by strategically deflecting all criticism onto relatives of elderly patients has triggered off a number of highly insensitive generalisations about "granny dumping". What do some of these commenters suggest relatives should do when elderly relatives, much loved, reach a stage when they are clearly unable to fend for themselves due to compromised mobility, incontinence, inability to look after their basic needs, non-existent awareness of their actions, and frequent medical problems due to old age? It seems to me that many of these commenters have never experienced such a situation and thus their wisecracks are understandable, though equally reprehensible. PS Well done, dear Minister, best form of defence (for crass ineptitude) is ATTACK, particularly by portraying relatives of elderly, dependent people as selfish, pension-stealing gits.
Mr Steve Sant
Oct 3rd 2011, 20:58
Why didn't you allow the Red Cross to operate from St.Luke's hospital.
Paul Camilleri
Oct 3rd 2011, 19:52
Hospital authorities are to enjoin relatives of these patients to sign an undertaking that they are to accept patients back home when they are certified fit and released from Hospital.
Otherwise these relatives are to be charged a daily fee equal to the daily rate of pension receivable from the Social Security pension.
Mr Jo Camm
Oct 3rd 2011, 20:42
I think that this should be the way out. Some may not accept their relatives back home, but if the pension is withheld I am sure they will themselves ask to take them home.
Ms Monica Muscat
Oct 3rd 2011, 21:22
I think that this is a reasonable suggestion. When we have reached the stage that working partners find it "impossible" to look after aged relatives, for whom an old peoples' home is not available, a fee should be charged for the upkeep of the patient, detracted from the pension, just as if the patient is in a home. I to guess that many relatives will change their minds.
Call it arm-twisting! But it is that what the relatives are doing to the Medical Administrators at Mater Dei.
M Cassar
Oct 3rd 2011, 19:39
Granny dumping, as this phenomenon is called, is a common occurance, as anyone working in the healthcare setting can testify. The question is if social workers are immediately notified so as to look into whether other abuses of the elderly person are taking place, such as the misappropriation of pension, savings and property. This is also a common occurance. So it is common to see that the elderly person's pension is not used for his/her needs or to pay for care but public money is instead abused to keep the person in hospital so that his care is completely free while his/her assets vanish.
The pity is that we play around with words like 'dignity' and 'prevention of abuse' but then do not take concrete legislative steps to ensure these principles but instead focus on what we can say to get most votes (political milage) in the next election. Well, everyone knows what happens when a good man does nothing.....
Tony Borg
Oct 3rd 2011, 19:38
Are we sure that the relatives are not accepting them back because they do not want to or is it because they cannot possibly care for them?
For all those who just write here....I can talk of personal experience. When a very close relative of mine needed 24hr care it was not easy, no matter how hard we tried and no matter how much additional help we got from outsiders including paying nurses privately, to give the assistance needed.
I think that what should asked is why these relative do not "want" their loved ones back and then try and solve the problem.
Mr Aaron Vella
Oct 3rd 2011, 22:18
You are right but that does not justify leaving your "loved one" at the hospital. Remember, one day you and me have to use the hospital wouldn't we? It's not fair that I have to pay the consequences because a selfish man or woman forgot their grandmother at the hospital.
Ramon Casha
Oct 3rd 2011, 19:22
Then the relatives in question should be charged at standard hotel rates per night. Legally they cannot prevent the patients from returning to their official place of residence.
Mr Joseph Calleja
Oct 3rd 2011, 19:03
"Between 50 and 80 patients are being kept in hospital every day because their relatives are not accepting them back". We speak of patients as something being sent out for repair and then returned back to it's owner. How can a family not accept to take to take back one of their kin? We are dealing in human lives and not objects being returned back to their owners. What ever happened to dignity and respect? This is a very serious accusation and must be looked into. How can a family refuse to take back their own family members after being released from the hospital? Is this a joke? How low can we go?
Ms E Grech
Oct 3rd 2011, 19:28
As sad as it is, I may speak out from personal experience. 3 very old,unmarried and non-able siblings lived together but one of age 93 became bed ridden and had to be taken care of from his 90 year old sister out of devotion. In the meantime, the other 84 year old had to go to mdh and karen grech cause he had a full hip arthroplasty, kidney failure, couldn't walk, chest infection and unfortunately he had a very bad attitude and temper. after 4 months of waiting to go in a home, he was going to be discharged even though he had become dependable on someone to help him do everything. with no children to help out, the 90 year old arthritic sister had now to take care of two people when she herself needs help. When i personally had phoned before discharge to beg to them that no one could take care of him and they should keep him until a home had accepted him, the doctor very rudely accused me of lying, called me names, and cut the phone off. Now that dear sir is something to be ashamed of...that the doctor in charge, did not even consider the patient's social backround before discharge, which in a medical assessment is the first thing that should be done!
Mr Charles camilleri
Oct 3rd 2011, 20:12
Just a simple answer which you like everybody else should know. The reason being to skip the queue and send to St Vincent de Paule.
Ms Rose Cilia
Oct 3rd 2011, 20:13
Mr.Calleja.Let us not judge these persons on one sentence spoken by Dr.Cassar.Let me explain myself.An elderly person who lives alone and is independent may need to go into hospital for treatment or an operation.During his/her stay in hospital ,for some reason , this person is no longer independent because of immobility or incontinence so it becomes impossible for this person to live on his/her own. We all know that both spouses have to work to make ends meet .You cannot expect a woman to have a job, raise kids and take care of an elderly parent.She has to be a superwoman!
Paul Camilleri
Oct 3rd 2011, 20:53
Dear Ms Cilia , in that case one should take the necessary action and apply for admission to some home for the elderly. It is unfair to occupy valuable bed space at Mater Dei when other patients are being treated in corridors due to lack of space. Some people prefer to send their relatives to Mater Dei since such stays there are for free while on the contrary, admission to an old people's home comes at a cost.
Daniel Goggi
Oct 3rd 2011, 21:06
Without going into the merits of Ms. E Grech's case, I work at The REHABILITATION Hospital Karin Grech, and what I can tell you is that all the staff was always very polite, even when verbalyl threatened or harassed by relatives or carers. Karin Grech Hospital is a rehabilitation hospital with specialisation in Geriatric medicine and care too. It should not be depicted as a stepping stone to a government home. Before patients are sent home, they are thoroughly assessed by the team and undergo mandatory assessments by physiotherapists, occupational therapists, speech therapists (if need be), doctors, nurses, social workers etc... It is only when the patient is deemed safe and medically stable that patients are discharged. Also when such risks are observed, family training sessions etc are carried out. It is up to the carers and family to accept such training. ALSO, if the patient is intellectually intact and does not have perceptual problems, he/she has the legitimate right to decide for him/herself where to go and how to manage his/her problems.
Mr Alfred Cassar
Oct 3rd 2011, 21:18
@Rose Cilia, very insensitive comment, you should feel ashamed of yourself. So you are saying that after all those years taking care of you, making huge sacrifices for you to educate you and raise you, then you have the opportunity to pay them back and instead you dump them in a hospital and perhaps visit them once a month because you are sooooo busy with your life.
SHAME ON YOU having wrote this comment
Lorraine Caruana
Oct 3rd 2011, 21:38
Mr Paul Camilleri I think you are not aware that the residential homes for the elderly are all full up and there are hundreds of people waiting to be admitted!! The fact is that with all the hectic lifestyle we are living,it's impossible to stop working to look after the elderly because most people can't afford to do so. Pls be careful before pointing fingers. I agree that the pensions of such patients goes directly to the hospital if he/she can't return back home because the relatives can't look after them. (as far as i know this already happens at St Luke's Hospital).
Danika Vella
Oct 4th 2011, 06:00
Dear Ms E Grech, What if that 84 year old patient wanted to go home and insisted on doing so? And I doubt that the doctor called you names and accused you of lying. I happen to know who you are referring to, and the story I got was very different to the one you portrayed. Plus the doctor in question is a gentleman.
Carmel Cilia
Oct 4th 2011, 06:20
Dear Mr. Paul Camilleri. If this Government which has been in charge of this country for nearly a quarter of a century did its homework well it should have realised that an increase in the number of old people needing shelter was going to be necessary. The number of private elderly homes have surely increased but the money needed to be accepted in these home does not permit the normal citizen to qualify. In certain cases the money required is triple that of a normal pension. Today with the modern way of life women are expected to work besides taking care of their family; does this include taking care of their elderly relatives. There is no way they can do it. So now we are realising it is too late and the problem is there. Mr. Cassar should tell the whole story and please realise that it has to be the truth and nothing but the truth.
Ms Rose Cilia
Oct 4th 2011, 12:09
Mr.A.Cassar ,I have nothing to be ashamed of.I did not dump anyone at MDH. I wrote facts from someone else experience.You should be ashamed of yourself for judging me and those who cannot take care of their parents,work and raise a family at the same time! You obviously dont know anything about taking care of a bedridden elderly, so stop pointing fingers!