More and more elderly people are being abandoned in hospitals by families

The University Hospital for Active Treatment "Tsaritsa Ioanna ISUL" in Sofia is alerting that more and more elderly people are abandoned by their families in the hospital and are left without a home and support.

Accommodation in care homes is a long and complicated procedure and in the meantime, medical professionals look after such patients. Hospices and private care homes often are unaffordable for patients' financial means.

Abandoned, lonely and without shelter - these are the dozens of patients at the university hospital who cannot be discharged after their treatment, because no one wants them and they have nowhere to go.

"Years ago it was two or three such people over a period of three or four months, but now it happens every month. There are at least four such patients in each of the clinics in the hospital. These are intelligent people who for one reason or another had been abandoned by their relatives and loved ones. This is morally and ethically absolutely unacceptable," explained Dr. Petar Georgiev, deputy director of “Tsaritsa Ioanna” University Hospital - ISUL.

The medics understand which of the patients are lonely upon admission to the hospital.

"We askk for contact details of the relatives of the patients from the very first day of admission, in order to inform them about the time of discharge, because often they are not prepared, they do not know. The patients themselves also want to go home, but unfortunately they also say they have been abandoned for a long time."

Relatives often either cannot be found or directly state that they do not want to take over the care of their relative or parent.

"On the phone they tell me they won't come. Many times, upon admission of the patient, the relatives give fake phone numbers, we ring and it transpires we ring invalid number. I have a case when I call the family and they tell me they are abroad, I go to the address and he is there, but on the phone he tells me he is abroad and cannot collect his parent," a nurse explained.

The problem with abandoned patients is seen in all university, district and city hospitals and they take care of patients even after the clinical pathway has expired - at their own expense.

"As health workers, we cannot leave them on the street, we contact social care facilities. The bad thing is that with the increase of this trend with abandonment of patients, the two hospitals involved in post-hospital treatment - Botunets and Buhovo – are full and cannot take patients from all over Sofia," explained the deputy director of ISUL.