129 patients stuck on trolleys for nine hours or longer
SOME 129 people were left languishing on trolleys for nine hours or longer in hospitals across the country.
The HSE’s own figures showed the startling number of people without a bed, which is up from 116 on the same day last year.
The ominous trend comes in the wake of a warning by the Irish Medical Organisation (IMO) that hospitals could run out of beds for 1,000 patients on trolleys when gridlock reaches its peak in the coming weeks.
The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) reports there were 403 patients waiting for beds yesterday. The worst-hit hospitals were University Hospital Limerick, where 55 patients did not have a bed, followed by Connolly Hospital in Dublin, which is in Taoiseach Leo Varadkar’s constituency.
Cork University Hospital struggled to find beds for 31 emergency patients.
The fear is that the chaos will escalate in the coming weeks and a promised 79 extra beds will not be available on time to provide a vital safety valve.
University Hospital Limerick said it is one of the busiest in the country and the numbers presenting continues to increase year on year.
A spokesman said attendances exceeded 67,800 at the A&E in 2017 and the rise has continued this year.
“This increase in attendances has continued into 2018 and, of those presenting, the numbers requiring admission include many frail elderly patients with complex care needs,” said the spokesman.
He said that overcrowding is a whole-hospital issue and not an issue strictly for the A&E.
“A multi-faceted approach is required to tackle overcrowding, encompassing additional bed capacity, improved patient flow, the development of integrated care programmes with community services – all of which are being addressed by the hospital group.”
The hospital has 400 inpatient beds and this is recognised as not being sufficient for the needs of the mid-western region, he added.
It is promised a 60-bed block but it is not yet clear when work will start on it. It is also a promised a 96-bed replacement ward block but no commencement date for the construction of this project has been announced.
Winter planning includes the opening of two new critical care beds and an expanded service of the acute surgical assessment unit over the winter as well as redevelopment of a medical ward in Nenagh Hospital for infection prevention and control.
‘The numbers include frail elderly patients with complex needs’