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OVERCROWDING IN HOSPITAL emergency departments across the country is getting worse, says the Irish Association for Emergency Medicine (IAEM)
The group welcomed the recent letter to HIQA from specialist trainees in Emergency Medicine which they said highlighted the real picture of the “continuing and unacceptable overcrowding in the country’s Emergency Departments (EDs) and the risks to patients and staff associated with it”.
Mismatched information
Speaking to TheJournal.ie, a spokesperson for the IAEM said that there was a mismatch in information coming from the Department of Health about the improvements in trolley numbers and crowding and what their organisation were hearing on the ground.
They criticised the Health Service Executive (HSE) stating that their response to the problem was “disappointing” and they criticised the figures the HSE had issued, which hailed there was a vast improvement.
Rather than acknowledge the serious and, in some places, worsening problem it reported a 34 per cent decrease in ED overcrowding with admitted inpatients, choosing 2011 as the comparator year because that year saw the greatest number of inpatient boarders in EDs.The true reduction is actually 22 per cent – laudable but of scant consolation to the 67,863 inpatients who endured being on a trolley instead of being treated in a bed on a ward.
The group state that compared to 2012, there is a 2 per cent increase in the number of inpatient boarders in EDs or trolley inpatients in wards.
“ED overcrowding is associated with increased risk of avoidable death, inferior medical outcomes or unnecessarily prolonged hospitalisation, he said, adding:
It is a severe problem, and it has been for some years, but what we are hearing from our members on the ground is that it is getting particularly bad and there does not seem to be any improvement.
The IAEM stated that overcrowding “continues represents a failure of the HSE to proactively manage this predictable situation and should be openly acknowledged as such rather than dismissing the legitimate concerns of doctors about the welfare of their patients”.
Risk to patients
Addressing the issue of the restricting ED’s hours – such as that raised in the Dáil yesterday in relation the St. Columcilles’s Hospital in Loughlinstown, he said that the reconfiguration of hospitals is not always a bad thing but said that the adequate resources need to be given to the hospital that is taking on the additional patients – like that of St Vincent’s Hospital.
“It should enhance patient safety and their experience, it should not make it worse. If it is just being done to save money, to close them down as a cost-saving measure then obviously that is not a good idea,” he said.
The IAEM is calling on the Department of Health and the HSE to “up the ante” on the overcrowding situation deal with the issue with a sustainable management plan.
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Anyone who says the usual nonsense about building it around the M50 clearly doesn’t drive on the M50 regularly.
Dave, I hear the M50 is quiet between 3am and 4am. I personally think they’re fibbing.
In the event of an emergency id be hooring up the hard shoulder and stopping for nobody. Its easier to ask for forgiveness than permission. :-)
Dave this is a maternity hospital who services South Dublin. It’s a perfect location.
@Dave Harris: more then 2/3rds ot the poulation live outside of dublin, it;s the national childrens hospital not the dublin childrens hospital
It is neither of those things, they are talking about the national MATERNITY hospital….
Serious joke yet again. Why the likes of Blanchardstown and Tallaght hospitals were,’t given preference for the maternity and childrens hospitals is beyond me. They have more than adequit land and travel facilitys.
Can’t fathom that either. Surely cheaper land and far easier to travel to and park the further from Dublin. Bad enough for a couple of births, but a Children’s hospital will have many repeat visitors per family.
Because the high flyers who run these hospitals don’t live in Tallaght or Blanchardstown that’s why.
I agree, it should have been moved to the end of my street. Or better still they should build one at the end of everyone’s street
Great that’s just around the corner from my house, better start knocking the wife up
The land is owned by Vincents what you on about
@viking – why would it move to Blanchardstown!? It provides maternity services for Dublin South East and East Wicklow. Are you really that stupid?
The Rotunda Hospital is due to move to Blanchardstown
@The Viking: Not the maternity or children’s hospital, a hospital. there will be more. Blanch and tallaght will get theirs, just not this time.
Meanwhile you propose a stripping out of the city centre. coring the heart and installing stand alone drive through only monstrosities as far from the centre as possible.
How far out do you need to live before you can stop being ashamed of being a Dub?
@The Viking:, there’s more to a hospital than just parking and roads. Blanch was ruled out as a collocation site for the children’s hospital because it’s *not as good medically*. Maybe it’s just me but the quality and experience of the doctors and nursing staff beat parking and traffic considerations any day.
A Dub ? … The clue is in the name : National. As in, everywhere outside Dublin as well. There’s more to Ireland than bloody coddle & chips. …
@Platypus Parcel: is this the national childrens hospital or the south dublin childrens hospital ? im sure youre not aware but theres a whole world outside south dublin
It’s just called that, the rotunda I’d due to move to blanch and the combe to James or tallaght. People getting very hot up when they clearly don’t understand how the maternity hospitals work, and also that this article is not about the children’s hospital!!
Co-location is no longer considered necessary by international standards. Maybe the children’s hospital location should now be reconsidered
Shame they couldn’t refurbish holles st. It’s a wonderful old building full of character that will probably be sold off to one of the law firms.
Character doesn’t make a good hospital…
A wonderful old building. That’s the very reason why they are moving.
In saying that myself ant my daughter were both born in the same room. She was born the day after my 30th.
Good post code though
National Maternity Hospital Board meetings will now officially start with a decade of the rosary…
Archbishop of Dublin is already their patron.
@Liam Kennedy: Cos bishops know all about making babies…thought they banished him to south america?
@Get Lost Eircodes: I was also under the impression that the board of St Vincent’s was far more conservative than HS and potentially a source of problems if/when more liberal policies are to be adopted.
Will it actually be built, opened and made operational?
This is a great result for the mothers-to-be in the catchment of the NMH. The co-location with SVUH guarantees better patient outcomes for emergency cases, as well as better transport options for routine cases.
The “National Maternity Hospital” is a somewhat inflated title. It is the largest maternity hospital in the State but its intended catchment is only intended to be south of the Liffey.
The proposed National Children’s Hospital is just that, however, and should be located in the most optimal location to allow accessibility to children (and their parents) from the entire country. It should also be collocates with a general hospital with the necessary skills mix. St. James’s Hospital probably meets the latter criteria, it doesn’t in any way meet the former. In fact, I’d go so far to say St. James’s should be relocated out westward closer to the M50. There is still a requirement within the City centre for acute and emergency care, perhaps these functions could remain within the city in a satellite hospital, but the current location for St. James’s is not fit for purpose as a general hospital, let alone a Children’s Hospital.
what is the point of having a national maternity hospital. We have 19 maternity hospitals in Ireland all doing a great job.
I don’t believe all 19 are doing a great job.
http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/safety-statements-for-19-maternity-units-published-385219.html
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