OLOL bucks the trolley figures

Overcrowding in hospitals has reached critical levels with the highest number of patients being treated on trolleys ever recorded in the first week of 2018, however Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda is continuing to buck this trend.

There were 17 people being treated on trolleys in the hospital on January 8th, down from 22 people being treated on trolleys on January 4th.

Figures released last year showed that the Lourdes had the lowest figures of people being treated on trolleys (1,848) since 2009, less than half the number recorded on trolleys in the hospital during 2012 betweeen the months of January to July (4094).

Further figures showed that the numbers being treated on trolleys in the Lourdes during the month of August dropped from a high of 776 in 2011 to 93 in 2017.

However, nationally the figures are more worrying with a total of 2408 patient on trolleys during the first week of 2018. This marks an increase of 221, or 10%, on the same period in 2017.

The record figure comes at a time when the Organisation’s Trolley/Ward Watch analysis, for 2017 confirmed there were 98,981 admitted patients on trolleys during 2017. This is also a record figure for any calendar year since the Trolley Watch began and shows a 6% increase on 2016. The INMO is calling for a mandatory de-escalation policy, where Full Capacity Protocol has been implemented, by the HSE, in all acute hospitals - to avoid overcrowding spreading throughout hospitals and to reduce the risk of cross infection, poor patient outcomes and burnout amongst staff.

The INMO met the HSE on Tuesday morning to discuss the escalating problem.