Woman stays in hospital for year

The woman, who is in her 80s, should have left the Royal Liverpool University Hospital in November 2001.

But her son and family failed to attend a series of meetings planned to plan her care, forcing the hospital to look after the woman.

The case is believed to be the worst example of bed blocking in the UK for more than five years.

She was only discharged in the last fortnight after her son contacted the hospital and agreed that his mother could be moved to a care home.

A hospital spokesman said the woman's care had prevented other patients from being given a bed.

He said: "It has cost us £81,000 and that is money that could have been better spent.

"We want to encourage families to adopt a more responsible attitude.

"We are not asking families to take on all the support of their relatives but what we need from them is some indication of willingness to talk about the care of their loved ones.

"This case, and there are others similar to it, shows that bed blocking is not necessarily down to social services.

"This is due to families who, in this particular case, were not willing to discuss their mother's care."

Liverpool Riverside MP Louise Ellman described the case as "outrageous".

She added: "It seems difficult to understand that the family could have abandoned this person there.

"It also shows a total lack of organisation.

'Unusual' case

"It has to be totally unsatisfactory that this woman was left languishing for over a year.

"Why didn't the authorities try to place this woman somewhere suitable if the family were not coming forward?"

A spokeswoman for Liverpool social services said it was "unusual" for an elderly person's family to not get involved in their care.

She added: "It is a hospital decision over whether to discharge somebody or not.

"We would normally discuss a range of options with the family, such as home help, sheltered housing or residential care."