Government is to shut down the Continuing Care Unit at King Edward VII Memorial Hospital because it is “not fit for purpose” and “inappropriate” to keep elderly patients there.Announcing the decision, Health Minister Patricia Gordon Pamplin said that the wing of the hospital that houses the unit was no longer serviceable and that an Island-wide community effort was now required to find alternative facilities to care for the elderly.The facility caters to around 150 patients who have deteriorating mental capabilities. The vast majority are elderly and will stay at the hospital indefinitely“The wing of the hospital is not serviceable, it is no longer fit for purpose, and we now have to have an embracing of the community in terms of being able to have facilities that provide for these patients,” Ms Gordon Pamplin said.The Minister initially said that it was “dangerous” to keep patients at the unit, but then retracted that description and instead claimed it was “inappropriate”.“We can’t move them out, but it’s inappropriate to leave patients there — they can stay while alternatives are being determined, but in the interim, we have to have a longer term vision and range,” Ms Gordon Pamplin said.She added that she would shortly be meeting with stakeholders who have expressed an interest in providing care for seniors “so that ultimately we can have a proper plan that can move people out of that CCU and allow that department to shut down because it is no longer fit for purpose”.Ms Gordon Pamplin added that the refurbishment of the wing “is well beyond the ability of this Government or any future government to pay for”.“I want to ensure that all ancillary services are available appropriately within the community, so if the hospital moves away from CCU we have to make sure there’s capacity elsewhere in the community to ensure that those patients are not left sitting on the sidewalk with their kitbags, because I don’t do that to granny,” she added.In May, The Royal Gazette revealed the findings of a team of independent inspectors who said that CCU patients were receiving poor care in inappropriately “clinical” conditions.The Dementia Training Company carried out an environmental audit of the facility in December and concluded that patient treatment was outdated, while facilities were unwelcoming and institutionalised.Although the Bermuda Hospitals Board did not respond to those allegations, last month it did acknowledge that “there has not been an appropriate level of focus in Bermuda on how to manage care for seniors”.“This has led to increasing numbers of seniors left in the hospital with nowhere to go. This is costly for the hospital and Bermuda, and results in poor quality care,” BHB Chairman Jonathan Brewin said in an open letter to the community.“Additionally, issues with the quality of care in the Continuing Care Unit have been raised consistently over the last few years. We found that some improvements have been made, based on reviews by Massachusetts General Hospital and more recently by Dementia UK. However, the facility is old and requires significant renovation unless alternatives in the community are identified.”Last night Liz Stewart, of charity Action on Alzheirmer’s and Dementia, welcomed the news, saying that a facility for long-term elderly care should be separate from the main hospital.But she said the decision also raised questions about future care facilities on the Island.“Hopefully this is a start because we are in a dire situation in terms of elderly care and it is going to require a major plan,” she said.Any future facility will have to be better than what we have now, otherwise what’s the point?”