Overcrowded children’s hospitals to be given extra beds as crisis deepens

THE children’s hospitals in Dublin, including Crumlin Hospital – described as having shocking levels of overcrowding by Fine Gael TD Kate O’Connell – are to get extra beds, Health Minister Simon Harris will tell the Oireachtas Health Committee today.

He will also announce that hospitals in the middle of the trolley crisis in Letterkenny, Tullamore, Waterford, Cork, and Limerick will benefit from the share-out of 190 additional beds as winter deepens.

Mr Harris will say 83 beds are ready to be rolled out.

Ms O’Connell told a previous committee meeting that she witnessed shocking levels of overcrowding at Crumlin Hospital before she had to “give up” after waiting for eight hours at the A&E in Crumlin with her young child withou seeing a doctor.

Mr Harris will say the National Treatment Purchase Fund, which has been given cash to deliver the extra beds, is engaging with hospital groups as part of the doling out of the beds.

As reported in the Irish Independent, the cost of attending a minor injury unit for patients whose illness can be treated outside an A&E is to be reduced by €25 to €75.

Referring to hospital waiting lists, which remain among the biggest problems faced by the Government, the minister will say progress has been made in reducing inpatient queues.

He will also say buying care for patients on outpatient lists to see a specialist will concentrate strongly on ear, nose and throat, orthopaedics, dermatology, ophthalmology, urology and gynaecology.

HSE chief Paul Reid, however, is expected to warn that unpopular employment controls – which unions claim have left several posts vacant – are set to continue.

He will say the latest financial position, at the end of the third quarter, shows the HSE is €319m over budget.

The necessary “adjustment to the controls on pay and staffing is proving difficult but it must become part of our normal way of working. I acknowledge that this is a challenging process but I and the board are committed to ensuring that there is an improved culture of delivery within the funding provided by the State,” he will say.

There were 138,080 staff in the HSE in October. Some 142 more consultants have been hired since January.