Sir, - Congratulations to Kathy Sheridan on her two excellent articles regarding the plight of the elderly in Ireland's homes. Her pieces briefly discussed the issue of high- dependency care and the extreme lack of such facilities either in the public or private sector. Most nursing homes do not want to get involved with this type of patient due to intense demand on expert nursing care as well as special design considerations.
A considerable number of our Dublin-based general hospitals are now bed-blocked with the heaviest of nursing cases - end-stage Alzheimer's disease and stroke dementias. The State has sponsored or contracted beds in a number of nursing homes but the milder patients have been "cherry-picked", still leaving the high-dependency population in hospital.
This situation will worsen as the predicted greying of our nation advances in the coming years, and preparations should be well under way to deal with this growing problem.
As a person working directly with dementia, I would urge all concerned, either in the public or private sector, to fund, plan and build, as we have already done, dedicated "stand-alone" units for those unfortunate to succumb to the grim reality of this disease. Our elderly deserve no less! - Yours, etc.,
Dr Denis Eustace, Medical Director, Highfield Hospital Group, Swords Road, Dublin 9.