Is the Minister aware of and very concerned about the number of patients at present in the most expensive public hospital beds for whom an acute hospital is not the proper location, in other words, very old people who perhaps have suffered strokes and should be in long term care? Has the Minister any plans to ensure that suitable accommodation will be found for these people?

Yes, I am very concerned about this whole matter. I make the point that 40 per cent of all admissions to our acute hospitals are of persons over the age of 65 years. It would be very necessary to construct and expand a number of hospitals where acute residential nursing care would be required and persons transferred out of the acute hospitals as rapidly as possible. I know of acute hospitals with elderly patients who have been in there since, say, last November. They do not require further medical and surgical treatment and should be moved to other residential care which would be far more reasonable to run. On average, costs in an acute hospital are from £800 to £1,000 a week and the necessary care could be given at from £200 a week to £400 a week. Ironically, we could almost take over a few Dublin hotels and put these patients into places like the Shelbourne Hotel at half the cost.