Health Chiefs Hit Out at City's Plan to Axe Nursing Home Beds

Posted on: Friday, 25 July 2008, 15:01 CDT By Gareth Rose HEALTH chiefs have criticised city council proposals to cut the numbers of nursing home beds - despite it continuing to miss bed blocking targets. NHS Lothian gave Edinburgh GBP 7.7 million to build four new homes to move on people who are well enough to leave hospital but not to go home. Two of those homes have now been built, creating 120 new beds, with a further two homes with 60 beds each still to come. However, health chiefs claim the council is now considering cutting 60 beds from its original number. New figures show that in May, 87 Edinburgh residents stayed in hospital longer than necessary because the council could either not assess them in time or could not provide them with an alternative place to go. In June, that figure fell to 54, still higher than the... [read full story]