WEXFORD HOSPITAL: IT’S UNDERFUNDED BUT OVERPERFORMING Wexford General is calling for more funding to maintain its current level of service. And it will NOT be renaming itself ‘University Hospital’, its clinical director tells David Looby
WEXFORD GENERAL HOSPITAL is one of the best performing hospitals nationally – yet its funding remains static, meaning patient care is becoming increasingly difficult to maintain, according to management.
Clinical director Dr Colm Quigley said that unlike many other hospitals, Wexford General has had few people on trolleys in recent weeks and months, despite the influenza outbreak.
Dr Quigley said at most a handful of patients have had to be seen on trolleys, adding that every effort is being made to ensure that elderly people don’t have to spend time on trolleys, which are used for younger and fitter people when necessary.
Praising the nursing staff for their successful management of peak periods, Dr Quigley said patients with influenza were placed in isolation bays. ‘That meant we could keep influenza under control. We are very grateful to the public who understood our restricted visits policy as we stopped influenza coming into the hospital.
‘We have been designated green consistently over December and early January period, one of the few hospitals in the country to be so.’
The recruitment of nurses has increased significantly over recent months, with places still available. Dr Quigely appealed for anyone who knows a nurse looking to move back to the county to inform them that there are jobs at Wexford General Hospital.
‘Any reader or parent who has a family member or friend in Dublin who would like to work with us, tell them to send in a CV and we will be interested in talking to them.
‘We are trying to offer more flexible working conditions to attract people back. It’s family-friendly type employment contracts. We have a lot of staff working half time. We look at that as a way to keep our staff levels up.’
The hospital plans to recruit a second emergency department consultant over the coming months. There are currently seven consultants working at Wexford General Hospital compared to 10 on average in similar sized hospitals across the country.
‘We don’t have the same number of consultants in the hospital so the pressure on staff gets very difficult.’
He said 2018 is likely to be very challenging for the entire health system as the expectations of society increase every year. However, Dr Quigley said, ‘the funding isn’t increasing to match it’.
He said: ‘We have worked very hard to get extra staff and beds in place. We have stuck to our budgets but we really are underfunded in relation to our patient activity. We are a little envious that people in hospitals who may not be performing as well are better funded.’
He said management work very hard to secure extra funding.
‘The hospital staff are working extraordinarily well together over a difficult period. We are trying to keep the flow of patients through the emergency department as effective as possible and we try to avoid reducing our surgery activity. We did have to on one day because we were swamped, but we have managed to maintain all of the other services.’
He said there is pressure on nursing staff presently which can only be resolved by the addition of fresh nursing blood into the hospital.
Dr Quigley said Ireland East Hospital Group has been very supportive of the hospital. ‘The problem is it hasn’t enough money for the requirements.’
Plans to change the hospital’s name to University Hospital Wexford have been changed in favour of keeping the original name that people across the county have known for generations.
‘There was a debate as to whether we should keep it as a University College Dublin teaching hospital rather than having it University Hospital Wexford. It would be changing the brand name without any benefit.
‘Wexford General is the name people know the hospital as. We think we might stay with Wexford General Hospital and make it clear to everyone that we are a teaching hospital of UCD.’
A 75-bed, four-storey state-of-theart extension planned for the hospital grounds is reliant on it being included in the Ireland East capital programme in August.
‘We are hoping to go out to a design team,’ he said, adding that there is a cost-benefit analysis required for all large tenders. The hospital extension could cost in the region of €25m.
‘The process is dependent on future capital monies being assigned. We are in a queue for three years so we are confident of getting this over the line if not in the 2019 budget, in the 2020 budget. Between everything it would be 2023 or 2024 before the building would be completed.’
A 15-year plan for Wexford General Hospital was finalised by management in 2015.
‘We want to ensure that we develop the hospital in a coherent way so that we use the space available efficiently over the coming decades,’ he said, adding that capital monies for health are currently being absorbed by the National Children’s Hospital project and the move of Holles Street to the St Vincent’s campus.
Dr Quigley said additional nursing home beds are needed for elderly patients who have been treated and whose conditions have improved at Wexford General Hospital.
Hospital management have presented the case for capital funding to Finance Minister Pascal Donohoe. ‘He has listened to us outline what benefits would flow from the extension so we would be hopeful of getting this across the line.
‘We have battled very hard to get the hospital to where it is today by not wasting a single euro and we just need to continue with the support of the staff and our fundraisers to improve the hospital through things like the MRI project this year.’