Top doctor ‘desperate’ to keep parents out of ‘lobster trap’ hospitals

One of the country’s most senior doctors has said he is “desperate” to keep his elderly parents out of hospital, which he said are like “lobster traps”.

Dr Adrian Boyle, president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, said hospitals are easy to get into but hard to get out of.

His comments come after figures showed the number of patients in hospital beds in England who no longer need to be there has reached a new monthly high.

An average of 13,613 beds per day were occupied by people ready to be discharged from hospital in October. That was up from 13,305 in September and the highest monthly figure since comparable data began in December 2021, according to analysis by the PA news agency.

In an interview with the Daily Mail, Dr Boyle said: “Hospitals are like lobster traps – they’re easy to get into and hard to get out of.

“If social care was able to do its job in the way we want it to, these poor people wouldn’t be stranded in hospital.

“I have elderly parents and I’m desperate to keep them out of hospital.

“For someone who is frail, hospital is often a bad place for them. They’re being harmed by being in hospital.”

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Source: The Independent, 14 November 2022