The present paper examines the quantitative characteristics of the burden that a local hospital (General Hospital of Kalamata) bears as a result of the ageing of the local population (Messenia prefecture), taking into thorough consideration the high demand for hospital care services required by the aged. The analysis is based on primary data of patient flow in the General Hospital of Kalamata during the period 1991-2009. The findings show that there are explicit indications of “hospitalization of the aged’’, while the extent of burden that the hospital system bears from the ageing population of the Messenia prefecture depends on the measures used for identifying the demand. Thus in the present case, it appears that a relationship exists between the ageing population and hospital care services which is partly a matter of modernization and reformation of the “mix” of care offered to the aged by the local health care system