ELDERLY patients in a North-East town face longer stays in hospital because the closure of two residential care homes has left a shortage of beds in the community.
Two care lodges are to close at Trees Park Healthcare, in Middleton St George, near Darlington, next month, with the loss of 55 places.
Homes are being found for all the residents, but there are 49 elderly people in hospitals in County Durham awaiting a place in a residential home who could face longer delays in finding accommodation.
The South Durham Health Care NHS Trust is considering how to cope with the situation ahead of the expected increase in demand for beds this winter.
A spokeswoman for nursing and community services said: "This reduction in available accommodation represents potential problems in the community, and could result in increased numbers of discharge delays on Darlington hospital."
To combat the regular problem of bed shortages in winter, the health authority is working with trusts, primary care groups and social services department.
Proposals include increasing the number of radiology and pathology sessions, and employing a flexible nursing team to cover sickness and absence, as well as developing medical emergency assistants to help the on-call medical team.
There are also plans to designate some hospital beds specifically for elderly people waiting for a space in a residential home.
This would prevent general surgical and medical wards, which have limited staff, filling with delayed discharge patients.
As well as looking after elderly people long term, residential nursing care beds are also used as a stop-gap between hospital and home while a patient gets better.
Trees Park Healthcare decided to close the lodges because it claimed they were not full and the company was making a loss.
The loss of the beds coincided with planning permission being granted for a change of use for the Abbey Lodge, in Abbey Road, Darlington.
The owners of the care home were given permission to turn it into a nursery by Darlington Borough Council.
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