North Antrim MLA urges older people to get involved in study into unplanned hospital stays
The North Antrim chairman of the NI Assembly’s Health Committee is encouraging older people to get involved in research by Age NI about unplanned stays in hospital.
The My Hospital Journey study wants to hear from people aged 65 and over who have had an unplanned stay in hospital in the past 12 months.
North Antrim Sinn Fein MLA, Philip McGuigan, Chair of the Health Committee, said: “I would like to commend Age NI for gathering this important information which will help give policy makers a better understanding of older people’s experiences of unplanned visits to hospitals.
"We have an ageing population, more and more older people are going to have unplanned visits to hospitals and it’s important that we know about the experiences they have. I would encourage everyone to participate in this survey which will help make important decisions moving forward.”
The research will give older people the opportunity to share what it’s like to have been admitted to hospital unexpectedly, the care they received as an inpatient and the support they were provided with after they were discharged.
The research also wants to find out if older people are encouraged to get out of bed and move about when in hospital.
People aged 65 and over are invited to fill in the survey that is open on Age NI’s website until July 31: https://www.ageni.org/news/hospital-journey/
There will also be an option of a follow up interview for anyone who would like to talk in more detail about their hospital stay.