Letters
Transitional care for elderly people
BMJ 2005; 331 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.331.7527.1271-b (Published 24 November 2005) Cite this as: BMJ 2005;331:1271
Intermediate care can be safe and reduce hospital use, but is it and does it?
- John R Gladman, reader in the medicine of older people (john.gladman@nottingham.ac.uk)
- Queen's Medical Centre, Nottingham NG7 2UH
EDITOR—Crotty et al show that transitional, or intermediate, care facilities can be used to divert older people safely from hospital to a care home setting.1 Our randomised controlled trial had similar findings,2 but we could not exclude the possibility that such transitional care increases long term institutionalisation over a longer period of follow-up (12 months, compared with four months in the …