It is astounding none of the highly paid officials in the NHS trusts and on local councils foresaw the problems that would occur over the care of elderly patients ready to be discharged from hospital but with no accommodation (The Argus, April 8).

Perhaps if they had the purposebuilt police convalescent home in Kingsway, Brighton, would have been purchased.

I wonder how much it sold for?

How much, in the intervening years, has bed blocking cost?

The home could have accommodated patients from a wide area, not just Brighton and Hove.

Why has the Nuffield hospital in New Church Road been demolished to be replaced by yet more flats? No prizes for guessing the answer - money.

No one in authority seems to be taking action to deal with the problems of an increasingly ageing population. Care homes have closed. Care in the community is patchy and far from ideal even when it is available. The service is too overstretched.

More blocks of flats similar to Saxon Court would solve a lot of problems for many citizens.

If such blocks were built with some small shops on the ground floor, perhaps also a doctor's surgery, not necessarily manned every day, and some flats provided for a few nurses and carers, the costs would be offset by savings in other services.

Many elderly people in quite good health nevertheless struggle to cope with shopping, visits to the doctor, dentist etc and the maintenance of their homes and gardens.

These problems need urgent attention from central government now.

  • Betty Middleton, Seaford Road, Hove