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SEVENTY THREE CHILDREN have spent time on trolleys in emergency departments across three paediatric hospitals in the first two weeks of 2018.
That’s according to a new paediatric trolley watch, which was launched by the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) today. This child-focused trolley watch – where the number of children on trolleys in emergency departments is counted on a daily basis – follows on from the INMO’s trolley watch for adult patients.
The organisation counted children in Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital Crumlin, the National Children’s Hospital Tallaght and the Children’s University Hospital Temple Street. It said that it is “unfortunate that children are now regularly being admitted for hospital care without an inpatient bed”, describing the presence of trolleys in paediatric hospitals as “a new phenomenon”.
While the INMO has been monitoring the number of children on trolleys since November 2017, the numbers have only been made public today.
At the launch, INMO Deputy Secretary General Dave Hughes said that the numbers are not due to an increase in children being admitted to hospital, but instead is down to capacity.
The INMO said it was launching the paediatric trolley watch in an effort to draw attention to the number of children who are having to spend time on trolleys in emergency departments while awaiting treatment.
“I think it’s a regrettable step that we’ve had to call you here today,” said INMO President, Martina Harkin-Kelly to reporters at the launch, calling the situation “another symptom… of the broken and debilitated health system we have.”
She said the organisation’s National Children’s Section had brought the INMO’s attention to the issue. Harkin-Kelly said that it is a “wake-up call for the government”.
She said its main concern is safety and that the appropriate care is given and children’s needs are met. “Parents who bring their children to an emergency department bring them with huge anxieties and levels of tension,” said Harkin-Kelly. “Because we all know a child’s condition can deteriorate very, very quickly.”
“We believe we shouldn’t have to count children on trolleys, it shouldn’t be happening,” said INMO general secretary Phil Ni Sheaghdha.
She said that staffing numbers are a concern, as are staffing numbers in the forthcoming National Children’s Hospital.
Ní Sheaghdha also said that the recent flu has not massively increased the number of children being brought to hospital, as it has not majorly changed the number of children admitted to EDs.
“It is a very traumatic event for any parent and child to have to present at an emergency department in the first place, and particularly an emergency department is not the appropriate environment [for] a child who should be admitted as an in-patient,” added Catherine Sheridan of the INMO.
They should not have to endure the emergency environment for prolonged periods which we are finding now. It adds to the trauma. There is nothing more frightening for a parent than to have their child sick. Therefore having to endure that type of environment for a prolonged period just adds and exacerbates a very traumatic situation.
Sheridan described the situation as “totally unacceptable”.
The INMO said it wants the paediatric trolley watch to bring government attention to the issue.
Overcrowding
Speaking last week, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said that he doesn’t want any patient in Ireland to “face the indignity and the risk to their health that comes with prolonged trolley waits”.
The Taoiseach said the case for extra beds in our hospitals is “indisputable”, adding: “Even if there was no overcrowding in our hospitals we would say we still need more bed capacity and that’s down to the fact that we’ve a growing population, an ageing population.”
Varadkar said between 150 and 200 extra beds were made available in Irish hospitals in both 2016 and 2017. He added that this will continue throughout 2018.
A bed capacity review is due to be brought before Cabinet within the next week.
HSE Chief Executive Tony O’Brien apologised last week to patients waiting on trolleys, saying that more recruitment in the health sector is needed, as well as extra beds.
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Thank you Fianna Fail, Fine Gael, Progressive Democrats and labour for this crisis.
How is simon harris still in his job,all he does is have meetings.if others are not carrying out “the plan” to solve issues,remove them.someone must be held to account and face consequences.
@@mdmak33: The problem is that unless you find an incompetent civil service health manager or worker actually standing over a patient in a public ward and carving them up with a chainsaw on live TV it is almost impossible to fire them. Thank the unions for that. They constantly go on about recruiting more front-line workers but raise hell at any mention of getting rid of the ridiculous amount of managers in the health system. About 70% of the health systems budget if taken up with administration and 30% medical whereas it should be the other way around.
@Brian Ward: very true. One government after another has been spineless about dealing with them.
@@mdmak33: Simon Harris, a young whippersnapper, got the job to deflect criticism, and take the blame, as with the minister for housing. He will be rewarded with promotion within the party, and a pension for life.
I’d be interested in seeing the figures for patients on trolleys that had to be admitted as inpatients versus those that were discharged after observation. I’ve been on a trolley a few times over the last 10 years and only ever admitted once for my appendix. The other times meant waiting for test results and then I was sent home. I wasn’t annoyed about being on a trolley but what really annoyed me was the amount of people presenting themselves with minor injuries that could have easily been treated by their GP, Local Injury Unit or Primary Health Care unit.
@Brian Ward: That is a part of the problem. I brought my son into ER prior to Christmas and he was very weak and there was an entire family of 5 taking up valuable space with a very energetic toddler with a runny nose. I had to put my boy to sleep on a coffee table while we were waiting. The Dad burst into the cubicle that my son was in and complained that he was there over 7 hours and hadnt been seen. They were regular visitors to ER according to the doctor that treated my son.
@Sinead Hanley: When I went in with my appendix I was asked would I mind giving up my trolley as they had multiple car crash victims coming in. There was a kid of about 10 who needed 2 stitches to a cut on his knee on another trolley and his mother raised hell when the same request was made of her. The victims that came in were in pieces with one girl (I think) having gone through the windshield. Another family complained loudly that they weren’t being seen to and then decided after awhile that they would come back in the morning as they had to go home otherwise they would miss Coronation Street! I would have said something but I was in so much pain I was afraid that I would throw up or faint if I did. Still at least I wasn’t as bad as the car crash victims and I was getting attention but that fat kid will never realize how he and his mother didn’t get a kick in the hole from me for being so selfish.
@Brian Ward: Sounds like a bad day at ER. It must be very stressful. That kid should have been attending his GP for the stitches.
@Sinead Hanley: Much of the problem is that GP’s won’t put stitches in, for many minor issues they’ll recommend the patient attends A&E, as we’ve become such a litigious nation and the won’t/can’t take the chance.
The solution to all this is to build the most expensive Children’s Hospital in the world, one of the most expensive building projects on the planet at the moment. It largely ignores the advice of experts and intends to attempt to squeeze a 21st century hospital into a 20th century inner city space and damn the consequences.
Our politicians have decided this hospital will be built, paying for it will however come at the expense of the rest of the Health Service, and that’s before it’s even equipped of kitted out. Another vast expense. And then for the next few years it’ll be a political excuse to be able to say “it’s coming”. Yeah…, just what we need, more expensive excuses.
I bet that if the TDs weren’t getting their expenses it would get sorted. Maybe their expenses should be put in hold until this resolved.
How is this a wake up call? Sadly it’s become old news at this point. It’s just not good enough. When will voters finally hold the same old politicians to account?
I’ve a very good way of fixing the system. You get a ticket when you arrive and you are called in that order regardless of who comes in with their arm hanging off or needing an electric shock to restart their heart. That way hospitals can’t use the excuse that you are waiting because there are sicker people ahead of you. It would be strictly first come first served. As an improvement to this idea they could bleep or text the patient before they are about to be called. This would mean the patient could go home and wait in their own bed instead of on a trolley in a corridor. Yes, some people would die unnecessarily but that’s happening already, no?
@Sean: that is a ridiculous statement to make. People, most likely medical card holders, need to stop using the a&e for every minor cough or niggle. Anyone paying would use a&e as a last resort. The clue is in the name ‘accident and emergency’. Also, they should cap the entourage numbers to 1 or 2 per attendee not full families sitting there blocking up the place.
have your say