RETENTION AND SURVIVAL OF HOSTEL RESIDENTS - A 12 YEAR STUDY

Background: The admission of a proportion of disabled people to hostel s is inevitably followed by their transfer to nursing homes. Our hypot hesis was that such admissions are justified in terms of quality of li fe and the cost to the community, notwithstanding the necessity of sub sequent transfer. Aims: To test this hypothesis by measuring the reten tion and survival times of residents in hostel and in nursing home; to consider the relevance of these factors to the future policy of the t wo institutions. Methods: A retrospective study was made of 159 reside nts admitted over a period of 12 years to a hostel with 32 places. Tim es spent in the hostel and in the nursing home were recorded. Probabil ities of survival in hostel and in nursing home were calculated accord ing to the Kaplan-Meier method. Comparison with the expected survival of a matched cohort of the total population was determined. Estimation was made, using the SAS software package, of the likely number of pla ces needed in nursing homes for residents following transfer. Results: Although the majority of hostel residents eventually needed nursing h ome care, a worthwhile proportion of their total institutional time (a pproximately two-thirds) was spent in the hostel. Ongoing support from the personnel in a geriatric service is likely to increase retention time in the hostel. Because of the ultimate outcome for the majority o f residents, planning for hostel care should include consideration of places needed in nursing homes.