CROWDED HOSPITAL REFUSES SICK KIDS

Cllr’s fury as children in a&e are given painkillers and sent home

Under-pressure medical staff turned away sick children from an overcrowded A&E. Not one spare bed or trolley was left at Cork University Hospital on Monday night and ambulances were backed up beyond 3am yesterday. Staff had to tell patients in the packed waiting room to go home after they reached capacity. Pain relief was given to those who needed it. Sinn Fein Cllr Melissa Mullane, who was there with chest pains just weeks after having a heart attack and a stent inserted, said A&E was “hectic” . She added: “There was a mix of very, very sick children. They were hot, they were screeching. It’s very hard to determine what is wrong with children. “It was very full, probably standing room only with just one or two seats but lots of people standing with buggies and elderly people. “There were very sick people and people like myself where obviously you don’t know what is wrong.”

REFERRED

Having been referred by her GP, Cllr Mullane arrived at the hospital at 7pm on Monday and was told there would be at least a 10-hour wait. But by 10.30pm the situation reached breaking point. Speaking from a trolley in the cardiology unit, she told Patricia Messinger on C103’s Cork Today Show: “A nurse and a doctor came out and said, ‘We are at capacity there are no trolleys. “There are no beds left in the hospital and we have a back up of ambulances. Unfortunately, we will be asking people to go home’. “They had our files and some like myself were asked to stay. They handed pain relief to anyone who needed it. “The doctors and nurses were totally stressed. They did a fantastic job but the system is not working. A hospital spokesman said: “The A&E was extremely busy with 237 new patients presenting for review and the treatment of which 70 required inpatient admission. ““We regret patients experienced delays but we’re actively monitoring the situation.”