Hospital crisis deepens amid huge backlog
PATIENTS face the misery of lengthy waiting lists for surgery or an outpatient appointment, as hospitals struggle to recover from the impact of the severe weather.
There were 620 patients on trolleys again yesterday after hospitals across the country ran out of beds.
Hospitals in Cork, Limerick and Galway were again creaking under the strain.
However, the escalating risk of having to cancel thousands of surgeries over the past week for patients with deteriorating conditions has yet to play out.
Doctors warned that several of these patients are expected to turn up at A&E departments as emergencies.
Most hospitals will not be able to resume non-urgent surgeries, where the patient needs to stay overnight, this week.
This is because of the demand from people on trolleys in A&E departments and hundreds of delayed discharges.
The pressures on hospitals since the beginning of the year, which led to an overflow of patients every day, have been relentless. The snow has delivered a huge setback as it was hoped services would improve while the spread of flu recedes. Waiting list figures to be released shortly are likely to reveal another increase in patients waiting more than 18 months for surgery, with more than 500,000 patients now in the queue to see a specialist.
Figures obtained by Fianna Fáil TD Billy Kelleher yesterday showed the growing crisis faced by children who need to see an orthopaedic specialist.
They will not get a first appointment in Our Lady’s Hospital Crumlin for two to three years. Separate figures also reveal how elderly patients on hospital trolleys are bearing the brunt of overcrowding.
An average of 59 people, aged 75 or older, spent more than 24 hours in emergency departments waiting for a bed in January.
“We know that a total of 1,834 people aged 75 years or more spent longer than 24 hours in emergency departments for the month of January,” said Deputy Kelleher (pictured inset).
“International research suggests that there is an increase in adverse outcomes for patients who have been in an ED for more than four to six hours. Long waiting times should be an exception and not the norm.
“A 2012 Hiqa report recommended that the total patient time spent in the emergency department should be less than six hours. This time should be measured from the time the patient arrives in the ED to the time of departure from the ED.
“In the UK’s NHS, if an older person spends longer than four hours on a trolley, there is rightly a public outcry. In Ireland, it barely gets any response, let alone action from the minister.
“Last year, 9,206 over-75s spent longer than 24 hours on a trolley. The figures for January 2018 are very concerning as it suggests a rise, and if continued for the remainder of the year could break last year’s record,” he said.
He insisted Health Minister Simon Harris “needs to quit pretending that he and the HSE have a handle on this crisis. His strategy isn’t working, and in fact the problem is getting worse.
“Long-term and vague commitments as part of grandiose national plans won’t help older people this month, next month or even next winter.”
Meanwhile, the Irish Blood Transfusion Service (IBTS) warned that its stocks are severely depleted due to the
cancellations of clinics during the bad weather.
It asked that donors make a special effort to give blood.
“The national blood supply has been severely depleted over the last week as we have been unable to hold clinics, but we have continued to supply hospitals.
“As of this morning, we have just three days’ supply on average across all groups and just two days in O negative.
“We will be unable to guarantee supply to hospitals unless there is a significant increase in donations over the coming weeks to make up the shortfall,” said IBTS operations director Paul McKinney.