‘24-hour A&E horror story for our elderly’

6,000 people over 75 endured day delay

ALMOST 6,000 elderly people over the age of 75 have spent more than 24 hours waiting in an emergency department.

The revelation has been called ‘a horror story’ by a group representing the elderly, while Fianna Fáil TD Billy Kelleher said he was ‘shocked and appalled’ by the figures.

Mr Kelleher, Fianna Fáil’s health spokesman, obtained the figures from the HSE.

They show that a total of 5,880 elderly people spent more than 24 hours in an emergency department (ED) in the past year.

University Hospital of Limerick recorded the worst figures with

‘Setting the bar way too low’

838 people over 75 experiencing a delay of more than 24 hours.

This was followed by the Mater hospital in Dublin (702) and Galway University Hospital (678).

University Hospital Waterford (458), Cork University Hospital (421), Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Drogheda (368) and Beaumont Hospital (358) also topped the list of 25 hospitals.

Mr Kelleher pointed to the HSE’s Service Plan for 2017, which set a target that anyone over 75 would be discharged or admitted within 24 hours of arriving at an A&E.

‘The Government and the HSE are falling way short of what is required to provide a decent health service. It’s not acceptable that so many older and more vulnerable people should have to endure such long waits in emergency departments,’ Mr Kelleher said.

‘Frankly a target of 24 hours is pathetic in itself and it is setting the bar way too low.

‘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.’

Mr Kelleher pointed to a 2012 HIQA report which he said recommended that the total patient time spent in A&E ‘should be less than six hours’.

He added that the budgets available to acute hospitals ‘is completely inadequate to meet patient demand’.

He said: ‘Yesterday the INMO (Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation) reported more than 400 on trolleys nationwide – a very high figure for a Wednesday in August.

‘The omens for the winter are not good and if the trend continues some 10,000 older people over 75 will have endured a wait of more than 24 hours in an emergency department before the year is out.’

Justin Moran, head of advocacy and communications with Age Action, criticised Taoiseach Leo Varadkar for failing to keep his assurances while health minister from 2014 to 2016 regarding waiting times for the elderly.

‘This isn’t a parliamentary question, it’s a horror story,’ Mr Moran said. ‘It’s more than two years since then-minister Leo Varadkar promised there would be “zero tolerance” if anyone was kept in an emergency department for more than 24 hours.

‘We need to see these words followed up with actions.

‘No one should be waiting 24 hours in an emergency department but it’s absolutely no place for an older person, often presenting with multiple medical problems, to be left waiting for treatment,’ he said.

Meanwhile, the Irish Patients’ Association said hospital waiting list numbers, which exceeded 686,000 last month, should be declared a crisis.

Some 686,997 people are on some form of hospital waiting list, according to figures published by the National Treatment Purchase Fund.

‘Words need to be followed up’