Delay deaths exceed 1,000 at f ive hospitals since 2015
FIVE major Irish hospitals have potentially experienced more than 1,000 deaths each since 2015 because of delays in their patients receiving emergency care, the Irish Mail on Sunday can reveal.
The highest potential death rate was found in the Dublin’s Mater Hospital (1,308).
It was followed by Galway University Hospital (1,182), Beaumont Hospital (1,173), Cork University Hospital (1,150) and University Hospital Limerick (1,063).
The hospital group experiencing the highest potential death rate is the Dublin Midlands Hospital Group (3,088), while the hospital group experiencing the lowest death rate is Children’s Health Ireland (201). Last week the MoS revealed, for the first time in Ireland, an estimate of deaths connected to delays in access to emergency care for patients based off a recent study published in the Emergency Medicine Journal.
This study looked at the association between delays to patient admission from the A&E and all-cause, 30-day mortality.
It concluded that after six to eight hours there is one extra death for every 82 patients delayed. And after eight to 12 hours there is one extra death for every 72 patients delayed.
Applying this methodology, the hospital overcrowding crisis has potentially led to more than 14,500 patient deaths from 2015 to March 10, 2022. Co-author of the study Steve Black said this figure is a ‘conservative estimate’ given it is likely the death rate increases the longer patients wait to be seen, but added more data is needed to confirm this.
He said: ‘We have other reasons to believe this situation is likely worse than this – we only looked at patients that were admitted to hospital.’
A Dublin Midlands Hospital Group spokeswoman said: ‘The Hospital Group acknowledge the challenges for emergency departments. The hospitals are implementing a range of funded measures to reduce waiting time and improve patient flow and egress ensuring patient experience time is in line with national targets.’