The Acting Chief Executive of the Royal Hobart Hospital has written to patients asking those who are moving to an aged care home to provide a “list of preferred nursing homes as soon as possible” explaining “this is a very busy time”.

The letter from Acting Chief Executive, Hospitals South, Dr Stephen Ayre, suggests that patients accept a “lower-preferred nursing home” if a bed becomes available “and then transferring to your preferred home when available,” the ABC reported.

The letter comes as Tasmania’s hospitals struggle to cope with a seasonal surge in hospital patients numbers and increased staff illness combined with high numbers of patients with complex needs waiting to be discharged.

Dr Ayre told the ABC a "whole ward”, or 26 patients, are in various stages of progress towards nursing home placement.

“That's an extraordinary number of patients to be occupying acute beds," he said.

However, Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation (ANMF) secretary Emily Shepherd said the letter is “not a good way to communicate these kinds of things.”

‘Bed blocking’, as the situation is called where a hospital bed is being occupied by a person who no longer requires hospital care but does not have a place they can safely move to, is also a problem in other states, including QLD, WA, and SA.

The SOURCE: It would be unsettling for an older person requiring care to move into one aged care home and then within a short timeframe move into another.