Patients tell of their hospital ‘hell’
SEÁN BASQUILLE was one of a number of patients at Tallaght University Hospital waiting for a bed yesterday.
The 69-year-old from Templeogue was at the hospital to have a heart monitor fitted following a blackout.
‘I came in on Sunday and have been waiting to get a bed upstairs ever since,’ he said. ‘To be honest, it hasn’t been the worst, the doctors and nurses have been doing their best. It’s been busy in here all morning and they are doing their best.’
He added: ‘There are people older than me in here.
‘I was able to sleep; they told me there is currently 40 people waiting on beds so what can you do? You have to wait your turn.’
A spokeswoman for the hospital said: ‘We are asking the public, where possible, to attend their GP or out-of-hours GP services in the first instance. ED patients are seen in order of priority which may result in patients with minor illnesses or injuries experiencing delays.’
SIOBHÁN FROM CAVAN ANOTHER patient named Siobhán said she spent two days from ‘hell’ last week waiting on a bed at Tallaght University Hospital.
The woman, who did not wish to be identified, told the Irish Daily Mail she had been booked in for a hysterectomy operation at the hospital last Wednesday. However, when she travelled down from her home in Co. Cavan, she was told that due to delays there was no bed available for her and her surgery had been post- poned. ‘I arrived at the hospital last Wednesday but was told that there was no bed available for me,’ she said.
‘I then spent two days from hell on a trolley in a corridor before finally getting a bed. I felt like a second-class citizen left on a trolley. It’s a terrible experience to go through... You don’t get to sleep properly and there are people always moving.’
She added: ‘The Minister for Health should be made come down here and sleep for the night, and then tell us really what its like.’