TROLLEY FIGURES HIT SHOCKING NEW HIGH
Hospital doctors say patients are ‘dying needlessly’
OUR health service was plunged into uncharted territory yesterday as the number of patients on trolleys hit a record high.
This prompted doctors to criticise the HSE and Government – and ask: ‘How many more have to die needlessly while inertia prevails?’
A record high of 677 people languished on trolleys across our acute hospitals yesterday – 511 in emergency departments and 166 on wards – surpassing the record of 656 set on Tuesday.
The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation said it has received a number of calls from distressed members ‘who describe intolerable working conditions and inhumane conditions for patients’.
The nursing union, which compiles the ‘trolley watch’ figures, said a national emergency is now in place.
It called for an emergency meeting of the Emergency Department Criticised: Simon Harris Taskforce; however, this had not been given the go-ahead last night. The INMO said the meeting was necessary to examine ‘alternative arrangements for hospitals that are simply too overcrowded to continue to accept admissions’.
The Irish Association for Emergency Medicine said it has knowledge of children in need of a hospital bed being held overnight in emergency departments.
The IAEM yesterday said ‘little of substance’ was done by the HSE and the Department of Health to prepare for the predictable flu outbreak and surge in demand on emergency departments. In a scathing statement, it said: ‘No solutions seem to be in sight. HSE plans are unambitious and token and are either not implemented or are too slow or too feeble to respond.
‘Any extra beds created will need staff and the reality of persistently difficult working conditions is that we are haemorrhaging doctors, nurses and other staff involved in acute care. How many more have to die needlessly while inertia prevails?’
The Irish Medical Organisation, which represents doctors, said this week’s record overcrowding has its roots in years of underinvestment and cutbacks. It said: ‘This isn’t a flu crisis or a temporary blip – this chaos is the reality of our health services today.’
Minister for Health Simon Harris remained quiet on the matter for much of yesterday, breaking his silence at around 6pm.
He said: ‘I met again [yesterday] with senior staff in my own department and continue to be regularly updated by senior officials in the HSE. It is vital that we begin to see an impact from the exceptional measures being undertaken to reduce overcrowding in our EDs, and [today] I will be directly updated by each hospital group CEO on this.’
Mr Harris insisted the matter was being taken seriously by the HSE. He said: ‘I want to reassure the public that all the Winter Plan measures funded by increased investment by Government, like increased access to home care, transitional care and diagnostics along with additional acute bed capacity, are being implemented to deal with the extra pressures our health service is experiencing.’
‘Intolerable conditions’
ON the first day of this new year, a grim record was set for the number of patients left waiting on hospital trolleys. It was 656. Yesterday, that record was broken again, with another 21 people added, bringing the total to 677.
One might expect that such a crisis would prompt an immediate and decisive political reaction. After all, when there is flooding, we do see relevant ministers on the ground, in waders, setting out to reassure those affected that alleviating measures will be delivered.
But no. Health Minister Simon Harris had not been heard from until very late in the day; not until 6pm last night, in fact. And then only to release a statement.
December and January are crucial months for the health service. This is peak flu season, when all the failings in the system are exposed by chronic overcrowding. One would expect the minister to be at his desk, at the very least.
Moreover, it may only be a matter of optics, but the electorate expects to see the minister responsible visiting the worst affected hospital, which this week has been St Luke’s in Kilkenny.
The fact that our political leaders do not appear to regard this situation as a crisis leads to only one conclusion, which is that they believe there is a level of overcrowding that is acceptable, and that, far from building new beds into the system to cope with seasonal spikes in demand, the lowest possible number, somehow, is enough, no matter how many elective surgeries have to be cancelled.
The fact they think they can get away with it is down to public apathy. When we were asked to pay 50 cent a day for water, hundreds of thousands took to the streets and consigned the hated charges to history, yet there seems to be no similar popular movement to demand improvements in our healthcare system that is among the most generously funded in the world.
A system that sees almost 700 people on trolleys is not fit for purpose in the 21st century, and it certainly isn’t the norm in other European countries.
The unavoidable truth is that we are spending the money the wrong way and in the wrong places, and Minister Harris needs to step in straight away and ensure this changes, and soon.