An inpatient bed for acute nursing home admissions

Some older patients are admitted directly to nursing homes without a comprehensive assessment.

To determine whether a hospital assessment bed might provide better assessment, treatment and a more appropriate placement for selected older people. Setting a single bed in an elderly care unit of a district general hospital.

Older people who general practitioners thought needed nursing home care but whose social workers felt might benefit from inpatient assessment.

Type of treatment needed (acute care, rehabilitation, palliation, long-term care) and placement (home, nursing home, residential home or hospital).

of 34 patients assessed, 22 (65%) needed further clinical assessment or care and 26 (75%) left hospital for places other than nursing homes.

Inpatient assessment is a successful way of assessing the needs of some older people who would otherwise have been admitted directly from their homes to nursing homes.