Residential and nursing bed availability within care homesResidential and nursing bed availability within care homes
Produced by the Freedom of Information officeAuthored by Health and Care Jersey and published on
09 July 2025.Prepared internally, no external costs.
Request 720101846
The hospital discharge team collate information on residential and nursing bed availability within each care home at least twice weekly, can you confirm who this information is shared with and how is it used?
Are there any policies in place so all care homes with empty beds receive referrals from the hospital equally?
Who decides which care home is approached to take the patient ready for discharge?
Are the patients or their families given a choice of care homes with an available bed?
Response
As noted in a Freedom of Information response published to www.gov.je earlier this year, Health and Care Jersey (HCJ) regularly contact care homes to enquire about availability to accommodate individuals awaiting discharge or referral from the community. Any position communicated relates solely to each care home’s stated availability to accommodate HCJ-referred public patients at that particular point in time; allocation of beds available is at the discretion of the care home to determine and disclose. The information communicated by the care homes is collated on a spreadsheet, which is shared with the Adult Social Work team and the discharge team.
There is no policy which directs care home referral distribution. The individual, their family and Social Worker decide which care home is approached to request for assessment, dependant on preference and bed availability. Patients and families are informed as to which care homes have available beds according to their individual care needs. They then choose which care home they would like to move to. Some patients / families request to only move to a specific care home.
The process is outlined below:
• Patient choice determines which care home the patient would like to be transferred to, according to bed availability.
• The patient / family is informed as to care home bed availability appropriate to their individual care needs; they then choose which care home they would like to move to.
• The Social Worker contacts the care home to come into hospital to assess the patient prior to transfer.
• If the patient / family only want to go to a particular care home, with no bed availability, the patient remains in hospital until a bed becomes available, unless they choose to move to another care home in the interim.
gov.je