Care homes are closing doors for dementia patients who do not have tubes fitted. Several elderly people are now being forced for fitted tubes to enable artificial feeding if they want to get admitted in care homes, a major report warned.

Royal College of Physicians working group stated that artificial nutrition should be the last resort. No evidence states that tube feeding prolongs life.

"This is a widespread problem. Many care homes say they will not take a patient until they have had a gastrostomy. There is no reason for them to do that. They should have nursing support," Dr Rodney Burnham, chair of the working group.

The report also stated that elderly people could be made to eat and drink normally with time and care.

The report produced with the help of the British Society of Gastroenterology now intends to guide healthcare professionals.

According to a national confidential inquiry conducted into patient outcomes and death (NCEPOD) investigation established that 19 per cent people who were undergoing the tube fitting procedure had it fitted improperly. About 43 per cent died within a week of undergoing the procedure.

There has been a steep rise in people who go for artificially fitted tubes. According to one of the surveys there was 11.6 per cent rise in the number of people who went for tubes between 2006 and
2007.