An increasing amount of elderly people are having to stay in hospital for longer following the loss of 150 beds in Cornwall in the first half of 2018.

Cornwall Council missed its performance target for discharging people from local hospitals and into care homes.

The council has said the reason for this was an unexpected increase in the number of care and residential homes which have now closed.

Council figures suggest 132 dementia care beds have been lost, along with 22 residential beds.

Some closures include:

• Fernleigh House, Gunnislake
• Chy Byghan, Penzance
• Highermead, Camelford
• Sheldon House, Penzance
• Mount Pleasant

A report currently in the council’s Cabinet stated a deterioration in targets – 11.5 delayed transfers of care per 10,000 population for the first quarter of 2018/19 – had been due to a ‘prolonged period of extreme hot weather.’

In a council statement, it read: “Council Council has a good record of adult social care and commissions services from 325 CQC registered providers.

“The vast majority of these are of good quality – 76% of providers have a rating of a ‘good’ or ‘outstanding.’

“Through the Council’s performance reporting, we have identified an unexpected number of residents and nursing homes closed in Cornwall in the first quarter of this year. In a few cases, the closure followed an inadequate rating by the Care Quality Commission. Coupled with a higher than expected number of admissions due to the severe hot weather, this led to an increase in delayed discharges for older residents leaving hospitals.”

The Council has said it is doing more work to help reduce the number of delayed transfers of care.