THE media has exploded with stories over the past few years about ambulances being turned away from hospitals and patients being treated in corridors due to lack of beds on wards.

It is pretty outrageous, then, to learn that scores of medically fit patients are being prevented from returning home after hospital treatment because of blunders in the bureaucratic system.

In an age where we have a wealth of technology at our disposal, this does seem incredible.

Car parks can keep track of cars coming in and leaving and let drivers know how many spaces are available on a constant tally.

Patients have to check into hospitals before they can even catch a glimpse of a member of the medical profession.

There are charts and graphs at every turn, yet it would appear there doesn’t seem to be a system for registering the information that a patient is ready to return home, or at least it doesn’t seem to be working terribly efficiently.

Hospitals are wonderful places when we need them, but they can also be stressful for the elderly, who are usually anxious to return to their home environment and familiar surroundings.

They often feel their independence is under threat and the longer they are kept in, the more they feel they might be institutionalised and lose control of their own lives.

So it is unfair to put them through all that stress just because of administrative changes to social services, lack of appropriate home care packages and issues with transferring patients to community hospitals.

The chronic shortage of beds is forcing hospitals to admit patients to inappropriate wards and is causing unnecessary delays all round.

It is unfair and the very last thing anyone facing a hospital stay needs.