Hospitals boss fears rise in A&E patients ‘causing big challenges’

A RISE in the number of people attending emergency departments is causing ‘significant challenges’, Ireland’s hospitals chief warned yesterday.

Liam Woods told the Oireachtas Health Committee that A&E admissions have increased by nearly 10% over the past three years with patient numbers up 2.3% this year, in addition to a 3% rise last year and 4.3% in 2016.

And the national director of acute hospital services highlighted a rise in the number of older people as being of particular difficulty.

Mr Woods said emergency departments see close to 1.3million patients each year and a quarter of those are approved for beds or trolleys. ‘The total of ED attendances have increased yearon-year while bed capacity has remained largely unchanged,’ he added.

‘This has created significant challenges for hospitals which manifest primarily in emergency departments.’

Mr Woods explained that the first four months of this year saw the number of patients on trolleys increase, due to increased attendances and the age and health problems of patients.

He pointed out a key challenge for most hospitals as the lack of sufficient single rooms, required to ensure that infection control is managed. Fianna Fáil’s health spokesman Stephen Donnelly noted that a capacity review written for the Department of Health shows that Ireland’s population is considerably younger than most other countries, so we should need considerably less healthcare than many other European nations.

‘It also shows that we have about the same number of GPs, about the same number of acute beds, about the same number of nurses and doctors,’ he said. ‘And yet we have some of the worst waiting lists in Europe.’

Mr Woods insisted the number of doctors and beds here are considerably lower than elsewhere and that serious capital investment was necessary.