628 died while waiting for a transfer

FIGURES released by the HSE show that 628 people died in hospitals while waiting for a transfer to other services or to their home.

But according to experts and the health executive, there are a wide variety of complex reasons for these deaths – for this reason, they can’t be directly ascribed to the delayed discharge.

A HSE spokesman said: ‘A patient whose discharge is delayed may pass away in hospital due to a number of reasons including natural causes, terminal illness, health complications while waiting for long term or home care.’

However, Justin Moran from Age Action said: ‘Our underfunded home care system simply cannot cope with rising demand and they desperately need resources to ensure that people in hospitals waiting to go home are able to do so.’