EMERGENCY APPOINTMENT

New technology will tell you the a&e wait time

A NEW app to tell patients how long they will have to wait at their local A&E department is to be trialled by the HSE. Developed by ehealth Ireland, the technology will display the average and maximum waiting times to be triaged and to be treated by a doctor. It will also show the number of patients waiting at any emergency department. The app will gather its information from a patient administration system known as IPMS, which is used in the majority of Irish emergency departments. A prototype website will be tested in November and patients can access it before going to hospital. An HSE statement said: “The initial delivery will be a website that is open for the public to query. There is some work to still be done to ensure the patient front end of this is as easy to use as possible. “There is a plan to have this prototype available by early November to get real time feedback from the public”. For now the app will only be able to access information from hospitals using IPMS. However, it is hoped the service will be rolled out to all hospitals in Ireland. The HSE says the app will not have access to any confidential patient information. It added: “The data is purely administrative data, it is not patient identifiable in any way.” Stephen Mcmahon of the Irish Patients’ Association said: “If the app tells a patient based on their location which hospital will be able to treat them more quickly that would be useful. “On the other hand , if it is informing you where you are in the queue similar to a pizza order, at least you know where you are. “Now, if patients could get real time reports of where you are on the waiting list for first time consultation or elective surgery and if it gave you the option to go to a different hospital, now that would be revolutionary.”

THE tragic deaths of three people killed by falling trees brought home the dangers posed by extreme weather.

Hurricane Ophelia left a trail of death and destruction in its wake, causing travel chaos and flooding. The West and Southern parts of Irelandwere first to bear the brunt of the Atlantic weather system and there was significant damage caused as it made its way across the country. Thanks to modern technology the storm had been tracked nearly 900 miles off the coast of the Azores from October 9 so the country was well prepared for its landfall. When the US National Hurricane Centre warned that Ophelia was “now taking aim on Ireland”, with maximum recorded gusts of 120mph, Met Eireann took the appropriate action. Their issuing of a Status Red warning for the entire country and the authorities’ response to it meant that as few people as possible were out and about. The Taoiseach’s advice for people to stay indoors and only to go out if totally necessary appears to have been heeded by many. However, as always, there were those who not only did not heed the warnings but who actually went out into the storm. Clogherhead lifeboat was called out to rescue windsurfers off the coast of Blackrock, Co Louth while it was reported that there were swimmers in the sea as the eye of the storm approached Salthill, Co Galway. While Ophelia is a once-in-a-lifetime storm, with climate change now a fact rather than a theory, the country must prepare for similar weather systems in the future. That, however, is the least of the worries for three families for whom life changed for ever yesterday. They are in our thoughts and prayers today as they grieve their loved ones.