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“MORE PATIENTS THAN ever are on hospital trolleys across the country today.”
In the Emergency Department of Dublin’s Mater Hospital yesterday morning, patients sitting on chairs in the waiting area looked up at the television, some leaning forward so they could hear a news anchor say what many of them had realised hours beforehand.
It was the worst ever day for trolley overcrowding since INMO records began.
The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) revealed yesterday that there were 760 patients without beds in hospitals across the country.
At the Mater’s ED, there were 37 patients on trolleys overall, according to the INMO figures. When TheJournal.ie visited yesterday morning we counted around 10 patients, mostly elderly people, on trolleys solely in the department’s corridors.
One man who has a chronic illness and who was brought in by ambulance had been waiting for a bed on a trolley in the corridor of the ED overnight, for 12 hours.
A relative who was sitting on a chair beside him said, despite the long wait for a bed, she was happy with how quickly he had been seen when they came in and the care he was getting from medical staff.
“If you come in by ambulance it’s faster. He has a chronic illness so he’s back and forth in hospital but he can’t be left alone, he needs someone with him to represent him. He gets startled if people lean over him and things like that.”
His trolley was on a busy corridor, near the nurses’ station with two other patients on trolleys directly behind him.
She said although the ED has been busy that morning she believed the system is working “better than it used to”.
I do think they have taken measures to improve the flow, I think they do the best they can with the resources.
Out in the waiting area, patients said they can see how busy the doctors and nurses are, but that they were exhausted – and frustrated – after sitting on hard plastic chairs all night.
One woman said she had been there for more than 13 hours. She had pain in her ribs and had previously had a brain haemorrhage so the doctor had sent her for a brain scan as well as an x-ray on her chest.
She was waiting with her husband in the reception area for her results.
“We’ve been here all night. It’s shocking,” she told TheJournal.ie.
Her husband said they had briefly been inside where the trolleys were the night before and said medical staff were “overrun”.
“It was absolutely rammed in there last night,” he said.
“I feel so sorry for her, though,” his wife said, gesturing to another patient who was sitting near them. This woman told us she had also been in the waiting area all night.
She has pancreatitis and was in severe pain the previous night so she went to the hospital. Blood and urine samples had been taken and she was given some pain medication, but told not to eat or drink anything.
Food and drink can trigger the release of enzymes from the pancreas making pain worse for a patient with pancreatitis.
“I’ve been sick now for a few months so I’ve been in and out,” she told TheJournal.ie. I would have gone to my own GP but they’d only have sent me up here. It’s ridiculous, I’ve been here for more than 12 hours. I’m just exhausted now. No food and no water, I’m struggling to keep my eyes open.”
She said she had thought about leaving.
Visitor ban
At University Hospital Limerick, a visitor ban was put in place as it dealt with an influx of flu patients. There were 92 patients waiting for beds at the hospital yesterday morning, according to INMO records.
The hospital said it had seen a marked increase in the number of over-75s presenting and requiring admission to hospital.
A spokesperson said they “regret that any patient, especially the elderly, has to wait on a trolley for admission”.
Cork University Hospital, Mercy University Hospital, Mallow General Hospital, University Hospital Waterford and South Tipperary General Hospital have also imposed strict visiting restrictions to try to prevent the flu spreading.
Severe flu season
Speaking to reporters yesterday, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar acknowledged that hospitals were “severely overcrowded” and said the situation had been exacerbated by a “very severe flu season”.
The current flu season, which arrived three to four weeks early this year, had led to the deaths of 22 people as of Friday last; 17 of those were aged 65 years and older.
The Taoiseach said the HSE and hospital management had been assured of government support in taking any additional emergency measures necessary to alleviate the situation.
He said this overcrowding is “not a new problem” and that there is a “long term plan in place to deal with that long term problem”.
This includes increasing the number of beds, increasing the number of staff and increasing resources for primary care.
However the INMO wants more immediate action than this “long term plan”.
The union has called for a major incident protocol to be adopted across the country, as was done in March 2018.
This would potentially see non-emergency admissions stopped, electives cancelled and extra bed capacity sourced from the private and public sectors.
The INMO also called for an infection control plan, as the risk of this increases with overcrowding. And general secretary Phil Ní Sheaghdha said the HSE needs to immediately scrap its recruitment pause, “which is leaving these services understaffed and thus overcrowded”.
Ní Sheaghdha rejected any suggestions that “this is all down to the flu”.
“There are always extra patients in winter, but we simply do not get the extra capacity to cope,” she said. This is entirely predictable, yet we seemingly fail to deal with it every year.”
She added: “Behind these numbers are hundreds of individual vulnerable patients.”
Patients like those in the Mater Hospital yesterday morning, sitting on hard plastic seats overnight or lying on trolleys in noisy corridors with their worried and exhausted relatives perched on a chair next to them.
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The meltdown is here.
God help those patients and staff
I wonder if everybody either got the flu jab or adhered to good hygiene practices whilst they may have a cold and stay away from ED rely on your GP or out of hours GP then would our ED’s be so overcrowded and ED staff so utterly overwhelmed. But it seems the public are under the impression that rocking up to the hospital and blocking up the ED is acceptable or calling an ambulance because Nathan or Britney is poorly. Before anyone lambasts me * yes I have had the flu * yes I do get the flu jab as I’m diabetic and in the vulnerable category.
My daughters a nurse, shes coming home nearly crying at the elderly people who are left on trollies, upset and embarrassed, this is not right, when are the government going to do something.
It’s funny people assume I get an ambulance I’ll be seen done quicker, no triage first, depending on illness could be left out in waiting room…
@herp: If the paramedics think your illness is serious and you need to be seen immediately, they will fight your corner. I had one wait with me for half an hour – she told the doctor she wasn’t leaving till they took care of me so they took me into the resus room pretty quickly.
@The only INFP in Ireland: paramedics can’t leave until you are seen by a doctor anyways….
@Jim Buckley Barrett: That’s not true unfortunately, paramedics dumped my daughter & myself on chairs in a corridor waiting to be seen. Once they had your chart over to the nursing staff they can leave
@Jim Buckley Barrett: yes they can and do leave patients with triage nurses, all of the time.
@Jim Buckley Barrett: but they do leave – I’ve seen it happen
Wife on chair 57 hours in mater 75 years of age serious lung and heart problem not even on trolley they were a luxury nobody got out of there in 12 hours if they had to be admitted had a letter from doctor made no difference staff in casualty do their best but if there is no beds available patients cant leave casualty so people waiting outside cant get seen to till a bed becomes available vicious circle
So much money wasted, obvious embezzlement going on with the Children’s Hospital/Printer fiasco/Broadband plan etc., and hospitals getting closed… and politicians are surprised this is happening.
Bloody joke of a country with how its run.
@Beer Wolf: —–AND PLEASE INCLUDE THE HUGE LEGAL FEES PAID TO THE LEGAL TEAMS TO TELL THE CRIMINAL’S SOB STORIES TO THE JUDICIARY in your very accurate assessment of the Irish waste of taxpayer’s money !!
@John Mc Donagh: They also take huge money out of the HSE, up to 40% of all claims goes to the lawyers
@Morning Gus: Sadly “the Shylocks”
@John Mc Donagh: Sadly “the Shylocks” get their cut out of every facet of life and business in this country, whether you’re selling property, buying property, making a will or just running a business they get their “pound of flesh”. They are self -regulating, making their own rules and nobody appears anxious to take them on!!
@John Mc Donagh: The fact that they are answerable to nobody, just like the Catholic Church used to be, leads to the abuses we see.
fG and FF out out out
God help them all,I am so grateful not to be in their position,yet fearful if anyone close to me becomes ill and needs medical treatment. It is a nightmare, look after yourselves and your nearest and dearest,no one wants to end up in A&E.
“If you come in by ambulance it’s faster”
Number one, no it is not.
Number two, this is just encouraging more people to call an ambulance which will reduce the availability of ambulances for genuine emergencies.
Irresponsible!
How long has that “long term plan” been coming? Promises at election time . . . . .
I am sure our wonderful charismatic health minister will sort this out very soon. We are so lucky to have such an intellectual giant in charge of the department, he should get a higher salary for all the important work he does……
@Gus Sheridan: And what about the 100s of managers in the HSE who actually do get higher salaries than the Minister…..
Whilst I dont doubt there is a serious issue with understaffing and what I would love to know how many of these people could be treated in a primary care centre or by their GP. There is a funny notion in this country that if you get a sniffle people present at a&e. I was unfortunate to end up in A&E a few months back with a life threatening condition. I was in resus for aprox 14 hrs before being moved to a unit. Any who the person in the bed next to me had a throat infection, and when the docs came to tell them they could go home that the infection was clearing the person said he didnt want to go in case it got worse. So they left him in the bed even though they told him he could be treated by his GP……………..
@AnnieBelle: I was in A&E with my father in Nov at the Mater. It was like Syria following a series of air strikes but of great note was the number of junkies and alcoholics. There has got to be a better means of treating self inflicted sickness cases like these away from those who, in the Mater over those days, were clearly on their last legs on a seat or trolley in a crowded room suffering. You’d get more humane treatment at the vets. How many hospital beds and multi million euro diagnostic machines are lying idle in the private hospitals right now? The INMO are great at securing money for their members under the pretence that they are getting conditions sorted. Nonsense.
Just to confirm something. If you go to A&E by ambulance, you are not seen quicker. You are triaged the same as any other patient that walks in.
If the criteria was that politicians were compelled to use the public system you’d find things would change farily rapidly…there are no queues in the Hermitage.
Why does anyone have VHI, not worth a shi* go up north if you want service
@Paul Smith: Nearly sliced my finger off in My Brother in-laws house up North during the summer. Went to the local hospital and I was in and out of the a&e in less than an hour and had to pay nothing..
@Paul Smith: I’m currently sitting in a&e in the Royal in Belfast. Been here 9 hours and have yet to be seen. The north is good but it’s not great.
The nurses are fantastic…i dont know how they cope.. its the system thats all wrong…total respect for all nurses
What about Mount Carmel Hospital. It’s barely used. It was supposed to be used for bed blockers in main hospitals. So here we have a fully equipped hospital sitting there being barely used.
@Margaret O Neill: Bed Blockers? You mean vulnerable people in hospital with no suitable carer when they are declared well. Please – bed blocker is a disgusting term to describe some of the most vulnerable folk in our society!
I worked for some years in the Netherlands. They have an almost perfect health system. If your appointment is at 2.40pm. you are seen at 2.40pm. If you go to emergency there are practically no queues no delays. Very efficient.
How do they do it? Simple, everybody pays. Yes, everybody. It is compulsory to have health insurance exactly like car insurance is in Ireland. If you don’t get insured you go to court. No exceptions, rich or poor, native or migrant (as I was), employed or on welfare, you must get medical cover. You are then very well cared for if you get sick. GP, medicines, hospital etc. Extra cover for spectacles or pregnancy was optional as not everyone required pregnancy cover obviously.
If you were so poor you didn’t have the money to pay you could go to a government help service for destitute persons and they would assist you within money. BUT you still had to get insured or face prosecution. No exceptions. I know this because I asked, being so impressed by their overall management of social issues.
The result was everyone paid the same and are treated the same. Equality of contribution and benefit. Top class treatment for all, rich or poor.
Irish politicians over the years cheat the public by pretending to give free health care to selected groups. But all care has to be paid for and giving free to one means another must pay double or accept half the service. There is no way out of this equation. It’s like someone living on welfare long term for whatever reason. Someone else has to get up each day to go to work on their behalf. There is no escaping this fact.
My costs were 102 euros per month for 1 adult. Families a bit more but not too much if I remember.
@Morning Gus: The Netherlands is not alone. Its the same throughout most of Europe. Hospitals/clinics/surgeries are run independently by a mix of private, public or not for profits and paid for services they provide (by social insurance that everyone has). Waiting lists, cancellations, over-crowding etc are features of state run systems like the NHS. No waiting, over-crowding lists in Holland, Germany, Switzerland. Yet our politicians are trying desperately trying to copy the failing NHS through their slaintecare policy. This, of course, will make things way way worse.
Overcrowding in our EDs is an easy headline. It is not our EDs that are being overwhelmed however. They are staffed appropriately for what they are supposed to do. The problem is further along the conveyor belt… insufficient patient beds on the wards, compounded by nursing staff shortages (typically running at 20% on any given day), coupled with delayed patient discharges – often on social grounds – because there is nowhere appropriate to discharge the patient to. Ireland needs a quality system of convalescent homes – not nursing homes – actual convalescent homes where patients can continue to recover from being ‘well amongst the sick’. Community nursing would be another option, though harder to regulate quality.
Like most traffic jams – the traffic is not the problem – it is always further up the pipeline that one must look for the solution.
@Juniper: They are not staffed for what that have to do ie look after emergency patients and patients waiting for acute beds, the EDs are being overwhelmed – ambulances are waiting 5 or more hours just to get the patient into the emergency department.
Yes the reason is the lack of acute and stepdown beds – but that is deliberate policy .
https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/election-2016/more-hospital-beds-can-slow-down-staff-claims-minister-leo-varadkar-34430062.html
@ChronicAnxiety: EDs are not staffed to look after patients awaiting acute beds. They are staffed to triage, and treat relatively minor complaints that would not require admission, as well as resuscitate and stabilise those that are admitted in critical condition.
I agree with you that the issue is a lack of available acute and step-down beds. Making those beds available is the real issue here.
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