Convalescent care in a stranger’s spare room
SIR – The NHS pilot scheme offering homeowners up to £1,000 a month for spare rooms to house discharged patients (report, October 26) is a staggering indictment of the direction the health service is heading (report, October 26).
Patient safety seems to have been disregarded with this wacky scheme. Selling the idea to homeowners for £50 a night, shows a lack of understanding of what is required in patient care. How will patients’ dignity be safeguarded from the comings and goings of unknown visitors to a property? Proper care and drug administration requires training , to say nothing of the nutritional care required.
A far better plan would be for the £1,000 a month to be diverted to convalescent wards where less intensive nursing would be required or to social services to help provide care in patients’ own homes, not those of a stranger.
James Bell
London NW1