1,000 elderly people a day needlessly end up in wards

ALMOST 1,000 elderly people a day are being admitted to hospital needlessly amid a crisis in social care, Age UK has found.

Analysis of NHS figures by the charity found that there were 341,074 avoidable emergency admissions for over-65s during the year to April 2017.

The number has risen by 107 per cent since 2003 for those aged 65-69, and by 119 per cent for those aged 75-79. Among the general population, the number has risen by 63 per cent.

The figures relate to admissions due to conditions such as ear, nose, throat kidney and urinary tract infections, and angina, for which hospitalisation could potentially have been avoided if the person was looked after better.

Many older people rely on family and friends to help them in the absence of reliable social care, the charity warned. One in three over-65s live alone, and one in 10 have no children. Those figures are expected to rise as younger generations reach retirement.

The report highlighted the problem of older people being stuck in hospital and unable to go home, putting more strain on the healthcare system.

Care not being in place was the main reason there were delays for older people leaving hospital in England last year, according to NHS figures.

Caroline Abrahams, the charity director of Age UK, said: “The safety net for older people living at home has worn dangerously thin after years of underfunding and an absence of workforce planning across both health and care – this is why the numbers of older people whose emergency admissions to hospital could have been avoided are rising so fast.”